Culture

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Long-term tracking

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

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

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

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

Differences in diagnosis

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

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

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

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

What's to come

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ordinary people see beauty in complex mathematical arguments in the same way they can appreciate a beautiful landscape painting or a piano sonata - and you don't need to be a mathematician to get it, a new study by Yale University and the University of Bath has revealed.

The study, published in science journal Cognition, showed people even agreed on what made such abstract mathematical arguments beautiful. The findings may have implications for teaching schoolchildren, who may not be entirely convinced that there is beauty in mathematics.

The similarities between mathematics and music have long been noted but the study co-authors, Yale mathematician Stefan Steinerberger and University of Bath psychologist Dr. Samuel G.B.Johnson, wanted to add art to the mix to see if there was something universal at play in the people judge aesthetics and beauty - be they in art, music or abstract mathematics.

The research was sparked when Steinerberger, while teaching his students, likened a mathematical proof to a 'really good Schubert sonata' - but couldn't put his finger on why. He approached Johnson, assistant professor of marketing at the University of Bath School of Management, who was completing his Ph.D. in psychology at Yale.

Johnson designed an experiment to test his question of whether people share the same aesthetic sensibilities about maths that they do about art or music - and if this would hold true for an average person, not just a career mathematician.

For the study, they chose four mathematical proof, four landscape paintings, and four classical piano pieces. None of the participants was a mathematician.

The mathematical proofs used were: the sum of an infinite geometric series, Gauss's summation trick for positive integers, the Pigeonhole principle, and a geometric proof of a Faulhaber formula. A mathematical proof is an argument which convinces people something is true.

The piano pieces were Schubert's Moment Musical No. 4, D 780 (Op. 94), Bach's Fugue from Toccata in E Minor (BWV 914), Beethoven's Diabelli Variations (Op. 120) and Shostakovich's Prelude in D-flat major (Op.87 No. 15).

The landscape paintings were Looking Down Yosemite Valley, California by Albert Bierstadt; A Storm in the Rocky Mountains, Mt. Rosalie by Albert Bierstadt; The Hay Wain by John Constable; and The Heart of the Andes by Frederic Edwin Church.

Johnson divided the study into three parts.

The first task required a sample of individuals to match the four maths proofs to the four landscape paintings based on how aesthetically similar they found them. The second task required a different group of people to compare the four maths proofs to the four piano sonatas.

Finally, the third asked another sample group to rate each of the four works of art and mathematical arguments for nine different criteria - seriousness, universality, profundity, novelty, clarity, simplicity, elegance, intricacy, and sophistication.

Participants in the third group agreed with each other about how elegant, profound, clear, etc., each of the mathematical arguments and paintings was.

But Steinerberger and Johnson were most impressed that these ratings could be used to predict how similar participants in the first group believed that each argument and painting were to each other. This finding suggests that perceived correspondences between maths and art really have to do with their underlying beauty.

Overall, the results showed there was considerable consensus in comparing mathematical arguments to artworks. And there was some consensus in judging the similarity of classical piano music and mathematics.

"Laypeople not only had similar intuitions about the beauty of math as they did about the beauty of art but also had similar intuitions about beauty as each other. In other words, there was consensus about what makes something beautiful, regardless of modality," Johnson said.

However, it was not clear whether the results would be the same with different music.

"I'd like to see our study done again but with different pieces of music, different proofs, different artwork," said Steinerberger. "We demonstrated this phenomenon, but we don't know the limits of it. Where does it stop existing? Does it have to be classical music? Do the paintings have to be of the natural world, which is highly aesthetic?"

Both Steinerberger and Johnson believe the research may have implications for maths education, especially at the secondary-school level.

"There might be opportunities to make the more abstract, more formal aspects of mathematics more accessible and more exciting to students at that age," said Johnson, "And that might be useful in terms of encouraging more people to enter the field of mathematics."

A new study in mice led by UCLA biologists strongly suggests that serotonin and drugs that target serotonin, such as anti-depressants, can have a major effect on the gut's microbiota -- the 100 trillion or so bacteria and other microbes that live in the human body's intestines.

Serotonin -- a neurotransmitter, or chemical messenger that sends messages among cells -- serves many functions in the human body, including playing a role in emotions and happiness. An estimated 90% of the body's serotonin is produced in the gut, where it influences gut immunity.

The team -- led by senior author Elaine Hsiao and lead author Thomas Fung, a postdoctoral fellow -- identified a specific gut bacterium that can detect and transport serotonin into bacterial cells. When mice were given the antidepressant fluoxetine, or Prozac, the biologists found this reduced the transport of serotonin into their cells. This bacterium, about which little is known, is called Turicibacter sanguinis. The study is published this week in the journal Nature Microbiology.

"Our previous work showed that particular gut bacteria help the gut produce serotonin. In this study, we were interested in finding out why they might do so," said Hsiao, UCLA assistant professor of integrative biology and physiology, and of microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics in the UCLA College; and of digestive diseases in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

Hsiao and her research group reported in the journal Cell in 2015 that in mice, a specific mixture of bacteria, consisting mainly of Turicibacter sanguinis and Clostridia, produces molecules that signal to gut cells to increase production of serotonin. When Hsiao's team raised mice without the bacteria, more than 50% of their gut serotonin was missing. The researchers then added the bacteria mixture of mainly Turicibacter and Clostridia, and their serotonin increased to a normal level.

That study got the team wondering why bacteria signal to our gut cells to make serotonin. Do microbes use serotonin, and if so, for what?

In this new study, the researchers added serotonin to the drinking water of some mice and raised others with a mutation (created by altering a specific serotonin transporter gene) that increased the levels of serotonin in their guts. After studying the microbiota of the mice, the researchers discovered that the bacteria Turicibacter and Clostridia increased significantly when there was more serotonin in the gut.

If these bacteria increase in the presence of serotonin, perhaps they have some cellular machinery to detect serotonin, the researchers speculated. Together with study co-author Lucy Forrest and her team at the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the researchers found a protein in multiple species of Turicibacter that has some structural similarity to a protein that transports serotonin in mammals. When they grew Turicibacter sanguinis in the lab, they found that the bacterium imports serotonin into the cell.

In another experiment, the researchers added the antidepressant fluoxetine, which normally blocks the mammalian serotonin transporter, to a tube containing Turicibacter sanguinis. They found the bacterium transported significantly less serotonin.

The team found that exposing Turicibacter sanguinis to serotonin or fluoxetine influenced how well the bacterium could thrive in the gastrointestinal tract. In the presence of serotonin, the bacterium grew to high levels in mice, but when exposed to fluoxetine, the bacterium grew to only low levels in mice.

"Previous studies from our lab and others showed that specific bacteria promote serotonin levels in the gut," Fung said. "Our new study tells us that certain gut bacteria can respond to serotonin and drugs that influence serotonin, like anti-depressants. This is a unique form of communication between bacteria and our own cells through molecules traditionally recognized as neurotransmitters."

The team's research on Turicibacter aligns with a growing number of studies reporting that anti-depressants can alter the gut microbiota. "For the future," Hsiao said, "we want to learn whether microbial interactions with antidepressants have consequences for health and disease." Hsiao wrote a blog post for the journal about the new research.

A new mathematical model provides support for environmental taxation, such as carbon taxes, as an effective strategy to promote environmentally friendly practices without slowing economic growth. Xinghua Fan and colleagues at Jiangsu University, China, publish their model and findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on September 4, 2019.

A worldwide "green development" movement calls for reducing pollution and increasing resource utilization efficiency without hindering economic expansion. Many governments have proposed or imposed environmental taxes, such as taxes on carbon emissions, to promote environmentally friendly economic practices. However, few studies have rigorously quantified the effects of environmental taxes on the interconnected factors involved in green development.

To help clarify the impact of environmental taxation, Fan and colleagues developed and validated a mathematical model that reflects the closely integrated relationships between environmental taxes, economic growth, pollution emissions, and utilization of resources, such as water and fossil fuels. Then they applied the model to real-world data in order to analyze the effects of environmental taxes on green development in China.

The analysis suggests that environmental taxes can indeed help to stimulate economic growth, decrease emissions, and improve resource utilization. The researchers explored several different scenarios, finding that the beneficial effects of an environmental tax are enhanced by advanced technology, elevated consumer awareness, and--especially--firm government control.

The authors suggest that their model could be applied to explore the effects of environmental taxes in other countries beyond China. Researchers may also seek to modify the model for application to different industries or economic sectors, as opposed to countries or regions. The model could potentially be improved by identification and incorporation of more sophisticated mathematical relationships between the various green development factors.