Culture

Alzheimer's disease is difficult to diagnose as well as treat, but researchers now have a promising new screening tool using the window to the brain: the eye.

A study of 3,877 randomly selected patients found a significant link between three degenerative eye diseases - age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma - and Alzheimer' disease.

The results offer physicians a new way to detect those at higher risk of this disorder, which causes memory loss and other symptoms of cognitive decline. .

The researchers, from the University of Washington School of Medicine, the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Institute and the UW School of Nursing, reported their findings Aug. 8 in Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association.

"We don't mean people with these eye conditions will get Alzheimer's disease," said lead researcher Dr. Cecilia Lee, assistant professor of ophthalmology at the UW School of Medicine. "The main message from this study is that ophthalmologists should be more aware of the risks of developing dementia for people with these eye conditions and primary care doctors seeing patients with these eye conditions might be more careful on checking on possible dementia or memory loss."

The participants in the study were age 65 and older and did not have Alzheimer's disease at the time of enrollment. They were part of the Adult Changes in Thought database started in 1994 by Dr. Eric Larson, who is at Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute. Over the five-year study, 792 cases of Alzheimer's disease were diagnosed by a committee of dementia experts. Patients with age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, or glaucoma were at 40 % to 50% greater risk of developing Alzheimer's disease compared to similar people without these eye conditions. Cataract diagnosis was not an Alzheimer's disease risk factor.

"What we found was not subtle," said Dr. Paul Crane, professor of medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine, at the UW School of Medicine. "This study solidifies that there are mechanistic things we can learn from the brain by looking at the eye."

More than 46 million older adults are affected by dementia worldwide and 131.5 million cases are expected by 2050, the researchers said. Alzheimer' disease is the most common dementia,and discovering risk factors may lead to early detection and preventive measures, they said in their paper.

Lee said anything happening in the eye may relate to what's happening in the brain, an extension of the central nervous system. The possible connections need more study. She said a better understanding of neurodegeneration in the eye and the brain could bring more success in diagnosing Alzheimer's early and developing better treatments.

The researchers said several factors suggest the effects they uncovered were specific to ophthalmic conditions and not merely age-related phenomenon.

Larson said for years Alzheimer's researchers were focused on amyloid buildup in brain tissue, but that hasn't brought much benefit to patients.

"This paper is pointing to a new area of opportunity," he said.

A new study shows that men only have to believe they've bested another man in competition to get raised testosterone levels and an inflated sense of their own value as a sexual prospect.

Scientists found that this hormonal and psychological shift made men more inclined to approach new potential partners.

The research team measured hormone levels, as well as self-perceived attractiveness and confidence in approaching women, in 38 men in their twenties before and after competing in head-to-head battles on rowing machines.

Unbeknownst to participants, the competitions in the study were rigged to randomly declare the winner, regardless of who was the stronger rower.

While previous studies have shown that winning can affect male hormones, it was not known whether this was down to the efforts it takes to win or the belief that one is victorious.

The latest study, led by biological anthropologists from the University of Cambridge and published today in the journal Human Nature, reveals that just being convinced you have won, or indeed lost, is enough to cause male hormonal fluctuations that can influence sexual behaviour.

Researchers say this is an example of "plasticity": the body adapting quickly - without altering genetic make-up - to suit a change in circumstance. In this case a perceived change in social status, due to the men believing they have defeated a rival.

The body attempts to take advantage of this apparent status improvement by inducing chemical and consequently behavioural changes that promote a "short-term" approach to reproductive success, say the researchers. Namely, more sex with new and different partners.

"Much of evolution consists of trade-offs in energy investment," said study lead author Dr Danny Longman, from Cambridge's Department of Archaeology.

"A common trade-off for males both across and within species is between mating strategies. One reproductive approach is short-term, investing time and energy in attracting and pursuing many mates, and fighting off competition. Another approach is long-term, investing energy in raising offspring with a single mate."

"We found that a perceived shift in social status can cause male physiology to adapt by preparing to shift mating strategies to optimise reproductive success."

Longman points out that in many animal populations, male social hierarchies correspond with reproductive success, and social status is determined by competition between males.

The study used a simple proxy for social and sexual competition by pitting athletic young men against each other to see who was the most powerful rower.

"Victory in a rowing contest strongly implies the possession of greater physical strength than the opponent, a trait found to be valued by women in our evolutionary past when choosing a mate," said Longman.

He took saliva samples to test hormone levels before and after the races. A number of psychological questionnaires were also administered, designed to gauge self-esteem, 'sociosexuality' (willingness to engage in casual sex), 'self-perceived mate value' and mating behaviour (e.g. the likelihood of approaching attractive women). Crucially, Longman and colleagues then manipulated the results of the races.

The men who believed they had won received an average testosterone increase of 4.92%, while those convinced they had lost dropped by an average of 7.24%. Overall, men who thought they were winners had testosterone levels 14.46% higher their deflated opponents.

The men who thought they had lost showed no difference in their perceived value as a mate or confidence approaching women. However, the men who felt like winners had a 'self-perceived mate value' that was 6.53% higher, on average, than their rivals, and were 11.29% more likely to approach attractive women in an effort to instigate sexual relations.

"The endocrine system that controls hormones is responsive to situational changes. Previous research has shown that testosterone is lower when men are in a committed relationship, or have children, to promote long-term mating strategies," said Longman.

"Our results show that both testosterone and its corresponding psychological effects can fluctuate quickly and opportunistically, shifting towards short-term mating in response to a perceived change in status that may increase mating value."

Male social status has less to do with physical strength in many modern societies, and Longman would be curious to see if similar results arise from intellectual challenges more familiar to the office-based culture many men now inhabit. There is always the issue of free will, however.

"Male physiology may shift to take advantage of certain situations, but ultimately a man's decisions are up to him."

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - New Medicaid rules in several states mean low-income people will have to work, or prove they're too unhealthy to work, to receive health coverage. Other states want permission to require the same, which could affect millions of Americans living in or near poverty.

Before these requirements get into full gear, a team of University of Michigan researchers is offering specific recommendations to help states ensure that work requirements don't harm the health of people enrolled in Medicaid.

The chance of such harm from losing Medicaid coverage forms the basis of a court case that has put Kentucky's Medicaid work requirement on hold and led to a public comment period that closes August 18.

The U-M team, which has studied Medicaid for years, published their recommendations in the New England Journal of Medicine. Their prior work on Michigan's Medicaid expansion showed that half of enrollees already work, and many others have health problems that limit their ability to work.

"We wanted to address the essential question: 'If we're going to have work requirements, then how can states implement them in the most humane way, so that the requirements focus on those who are more able to work and are less likely to experience worsening health if they lose coverage?'," asks John Z. Ayanian, M.D., M.P.P., lead author of the article and director of the U-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation. "We based our recommendations on the evidence we have about the current Medicaid expansion population. We hope state policymakers will take our recommendations into account as they seek to create reasonable, sustainable programs."

Ayanian and his co-authors are all general internal medicine physicians who provide primary care to patients at Michigan Medicine, U-M's academic medical center. Their recommendations focus in part on the new role that physicians would play in states that implement Medicaid work requirements.

The team recommends that states:

Focus on adults under age 50 who enrolled in Medicaid expansions. Compared to people over 50 and those under 50 whose health problem are serious enough to qualify them for traditional Medicaid, this population is less likely to suffer harm if the state bases their health insurance on their ability to work, or do another activity such as volunteering, attending school, undergoing addiction treatment or caring for a relative with a seriously illness or disability. That's because research has shown they are less likely to have chronic health conditions or limits on their everyday function that could get worse if they lose their health insurance because they don't meet a work requirement. The team notes that Arkansas, which implemented a Medicaid work requirement June 1, already follows this recommendation.

Give doctors clear guidance. While doctors already play a key role in some certifications related to their patients' disability status or ability to do certain jobs, Medicaid work requirements would ramp up that role to include many more patients. So, states should make it clear to physicians exactly what health conditions and functional limits will make someone exempt from a work requirement - or what limitations a person must have in order to require the level of caregiving that a family member could provide in order to meet their work requirement. In the latter case, the physician certifying a patient's level of disability or need for caregiving could affect the health insurance coverage for the patient's caregiver - someone not in their direct care. The new requirements may increase the workload for physicians and their staff appreciably.

Support work-related needs. Although the Medicaid system itself cannot pay using federal funds for services such as job training, help finding a job, or help getting to and from work or caring for children while a parent works, states that require work should connect Medicaid enrollees to such services, the team says. Such services would improve the odds that people covered by Medicaid will be able to find and keep jobs that will allow them to meet their state requirement, or even find a job that pays enough or provides health insurance benefits so that they no longer need Medicaid.

Make work reporting line up with today's work environment. As more workers have work patterns with hours that fluctuate week to week, have occasional gaps due to temporary jobs, or work that is concentrated in certain seasons, states should take this into account in their Medicaid reporting requirements, the team says. Requiring that participants report their work histories less frequently, covering a longer period of time, could smooth out these fluctuations and reduce the chance that a person who is making an effort to work will have to leave the Medicaid program.

Ayanian and co-authors Renuka Tipirneni, M.D., M.S., and Susan Goold, M.D., M.A., M.H.S.A., note that as work requirements become more widespread as part of ongoing or new Medicaid expansion programs, the details of implementation will become more important. All are faculty members in the Division of General Internal Medicine at the U-M Medical School, and members of IHPI.

"If the goal is to help people improve their economic standing in life and become self-sufficient, they'll need support to do so," says Ayanian, who also holds faculty appointments in the U-M Ford School of Public Policy and School of Public Health. "States should prevent potential harm that will arise if people with chronic conditions lose their Medicaid coverage, and therefore their access to health care providers and medications, especially if the economy changes."

Adds Goold, "If the goal is to provide a 'leg up' to economic self-sufficiency rather than a 'hand out,' providing health insurance through Medicaid is just one piece of providing such support. Child care, transportation, education and training, as well as health issues, present obstacles to self-sufficiency."

A study of 1.2 million people in the USA has found that people who exercise report having 1.5 fewer days of poor mental health a month, compared to people who do not exercise. The study found that team sports, cycling, aerobics and going to the gym are associated with the biggest reductions, according to the largest observational study of its kind published in The Lancet Psychiatry journal.

More exercise was not always better, and the study found that exercising for 45 minutes three to five times a week was associated with the biggest benefits.

The study included all types of physical activity, ranging from childcare, housework, lawn-mowing and fishing to cycling, going to the gym, running and skiing.

Exercise reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes, and mortality from all causes, but its association with mental health remains unclear.

Previous research into the effect of exercise on mental health has conflicting results. While some evidence suggests that exercise may improve mental health, the relationship could go both ways - for example inactivity could be a symptom of and contributor to poor mental health, and being active could be a sign of or contribute to resilience. The authors note that their study cannot confirm cause and effect.

"Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide, and there is an urgent need to find ways to improve mental health through population health campaigns," says Dr Adam Chekroud, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Yale University, and Chief Scientist at Spring Health, USA. "Exercise is associated with a lower mental health burden across people no matter their age, race, gender, household income and education level. Excitingly, the specifics of the regime, like the type, duration, and frequency, played an important role in this association. We are now using this to try and personalise exercise recommendations, and match people with a specific exercise regime that helps improve their mental health." [1]

In the study, the authors used data from 1.2 million adults across all 50 US states who completed the Behavioural Risk Factor Surveillance System survey in 2011, 2013, and 2015. This included demographic data, as well as information about their physical health, mental health, and health behaviours. The study did not take mental health disorders into account, other than depression.

Participants were asked to estimate how many days in the past 30 days they would rate their mental health as 'not good' based on stress, depression and emotional problems. They were also asked how often they took part in exercise in the past 30 days outside of their regular job, as well as how many times a week or month they did this exercise and for how long.

All results were adjusted for age, race, gender, marital status, income, education level, employment status, BMI, self-reported physical health and previous diagnosis of depression.

On average, participants experienced 3.4 days of poor mental health each month.

Compared to people who reported doing no exercise, people who exercised reported 1.5 fewer days of poor mental health each month - a reduction of 43.2% (2.0 days for people who exercised vs 3.4 days for people who did not exercise).

The reduction in number of poor mental health days was larger for people who had previously been diagnosed with depression, where exercise was associated with 3.75 fewer days of poor mental health compared with people who did not exercise - equivalent to a 34.5% reduction (7.1 days for people who exercised vs 10.9 days for people who did not exercise).

Overall, there were 75 types of exercise recorded and these were grouped into eight categories - aerobic and gym exercise, cycling, household, team sports, recreational activity [2], running and jogging, walking, and winter or water sports.

All types of exercise were associated with improved mental health, but the strongest associations for all participants were seen for team sports, cycling, aerobic and gym exercise (reduction in poor mental health days of 22.3%, 21.6%, and 20.1%, respectively).

Even completing household chores was associated with an improvement (reduction in poor mental health days of around 10%, or around half a day less each month).

The association between exercise and improved mental health (a 43.2% reduction in poor mental health) was larger than many modifiable social or demographic factors. For example, people with a college education had a 17.8% reduction in poor mental health days compared with people with no education, people with normal BMI had a 4% reduction compared with people who were obese, and people earning more than US$50,000 had a 17% reduction compared with people earning less than US$15,000.

How often and for how long people completed exercise was also an important factor. People who exercised between three and five times a week had better mental health than people who exercised less or more each week (associated with around 2.3 fewer days of poor mental health compared with people who exercised twice a month).

Exercising for 30-60 minutes was associated with the biggest reduction in poor mental health days (associated with around 2.1 fewer days of poor mental health compared with people who did not exercise). Small reductions were still seen for people who exercised more than 90 minutes a day, but exercising for more than three hours a day was associated with worse mental health than not exercising at all. The authors note that people doing extreme amounts of exercise might have obsessive characteristics which could place them at greater risk of poor mental health.

"Previously, people have believed that the more exercise you do, the better your mental health, but our study suggests that this is not the case. Doing exercise more than 23 times a month, or exercising for longer than 90 minute sessions is associated with worse mental health," continues Dr Chekroud. [1]

"Our finding that team sports are associated with the lowest mental health burden may indicate that social activities promote resilience and reduce depression by reducing social withdrawal and isolation, giving social sports an edge over other kinds." [1]

The study used people's self-reported assessment of their mental health and exercise levels so could be subject to bias. It also only asked participants about their main form of exercise so could underestimate the amount of exercise they do if they do more than one type.

Writing in a linked Comment, Dr Gary Cooney, Gartnavel Royal Hospital, UK, says: "There is gathering interest and momentum around research into exercise as a treatment for mental health disorders. The appeal is multifaceted: patients, particularly those reluctant to pursue medication or psychological approaches, are drawn to the self efficacy of exercise, the ability to attain a degree of agency in their own process of recovery. Mental health professionals, for their part, recognise the urgent need to address the comparatively poor physical health outcomes in the psychiatric patient population. With very high rates of physical comorbidity, and marked reductions in life expectancy, an intervention that might improve both mental and physical health is of particular clinical interest."

San Antonio, TX (August 8, 2018) - A new study at Texas Biomedical Research Institute is shedding light on the role of specific proteins that trigger a mechanism allowing Ebola virus to enter cells to establish replication. The work, published in a supplement to The Journal of Infectious Diseases, was led by Staff Scientist Olena Shtanko, Ph.D., in Texas Biomed's Biosafety Level 4 laboratory. The BSL4 is a high-containment facility that houses research on diseases for which there are no approved vaccines or cures.

The new outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus declared just last week in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo is believed to have claimed more than 30 victims so far, highlighting the continued urgency to find a way to stop the pathogen from killing the people it infects.

The cellular pathway under study is called autophagy, a word that literally means "self-eating." This ancient mechanism is switched on by cells to destroy invading foreign material or consume its own organelles and protein complexes in order to recycle nutrients and survive. Autophagy generally takes place inside the cell. Conducting in vitro work using live Ebola virus, Dr. Shtanko found that, surprisingly, this mechanism was clearly active near the surface of the cells and plays an essential role in facilitating virus uptake.

Ebola virus invades cells though macropinocytosis, a poorly understood process in which the cell surface remodels to form membrane extensions around virions (virus particles), eventually closing to bring them into the interior of the cell. "We were stunned to find that Ebola virus is using autophagy regulators right at the surface of the cell," Shtanko said. "Knowing that these mechanisms work together, we can start finding ways to regulate them."

The interplay between these two cellular processes could have implications for treatment of health conditions other than viruses. Shtanko believes that regulation of the autophagy proteins with a drug could help combat complex diseases where macropinocytosis is dysregulated such as in cancer and certain neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's.

"The work is a great example of serendipity," said Scientist Rob Davey, a co-author on the study. "Few would have thought that working on Ebola virus would reveal something truly new about how the cell works."

A study published today in the International Journal of Health Services finds that immigrants use far less health care than non-immigrants, and may actually subsidize the care of U.S. citizens. The findings by researchers at Harvard Medical School and Tufts University School of Medicine contradict recent claims by Pres. Trump and other political leaders that immigrants drive up U.S. medical costs.

Researchers examined all studies published since 2000 related to health care expenditures by immigrants. Compared to U.S.-born individuals, immigrants were found to have lower rates of utilization and lower per capita expenditures from private and public insurance sources; health expenditures were particularly low for undocumented immigrants. Across all age groups, immigrants' utilization was only one-half to two-thirds as high as that of the U.S.-born population. Immigrants also made larger out-of-pocket health care payments compared to those born in the U.S.

Researchers concluded that as a group, immigrants effectively subsidized private insurance and some public insurance programs such as Medicare because they constitute a low-risk pool that pays more into the system (by way of premiums and tax contributions) than is paid out for their care.

"Immigrants have been blamed for a range of problems plaguing the U.S., including health care costs," said study author Lila Flavin, a medical student at Tufts University School of Medicine. "But studies demonstrate that immigrants are propping up the Medicare Trust Fund by paying much more into Medicare than they will ever receive in benefits. Recent immigrants are substantially healthier than native-born Americans, which benefits the American health care economy. But to maintain their health over the long term, new immigrants -- and all Americans -- need access to good health care. Denying care to immigrants is a human rights violation that cannot be justified based on costs, and indeed may raise costs in the future."

Senior author Dr. J. Wesley Boyd, a psychiatrist at Cambridge Health Alliance and associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Harvard's Center for Bioethics added, "Our findings show that immigrants are clearly bringing down per capita health care costs and are likely subsidizing care for native-born Americans. Instead of attacking immigrants for driving up costs, we should recognize their proven economic contributions."

A new Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining study has found that using ethanol from corncobs for energy production may help reduce greenhouse gas emissions in China, if used instead of starch-based ethanol.

China has committed to limiting its emissions by 2030, and biofuel is considered the key to lower emissions from transportation. The authors note that corncobs are abundant agriculture residues, and the government should provide stronger incentives to encourage the industry to invest in corncob ethanol.

"Our life-cycle assessment suggests that corncob ethanol emits about 50% less greenhouse gas than corn ethanol," said co-author Dr. Yu Wang, of Iowa State University.

US study confirms effectiveness of quadrivalent human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine in women aged up to 20 years who receive all three doses, but more research is needed in women aged 21-26 years.

For women aged 14-20 years, catch-up HPV vaccination - offered if American women miss the recommended vaccination series at 11-12 years - is effective against the risk of important cervical precancers if women receive all three doses, according to a population case-control study of over 25000 people published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health journal.

The study analysed cases of CIN2+ or CIN3+ (cervical intraepithelial neoplasia - abnormal growth of cells on the surface of the cervix that could potentially lead to cervical cancer) in a population of women and girls in California (USA).

In the USA, HPV vaccination is recommended for girls aged 11-12. For those who did not receive the vaccine at this age, catch-up vaccination is recommended for girls and women aged 13-26 years. The vaccine is approved as a three-dose series, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also allows for a two-dose series for girls aged 9-14.

However, rates of adolescent HPV vaccination are relatively low in the USA, with less than half of girls aged 13-17 years up to date with the HPV vaccine series. [1]

The findings of the new study suggest catch-up with the full three-dose series for girls and women who receive the first dose at age 14-20 years will offer significant protection. However, they find that more research is needed to confirm the effectiveness of catch-up vaccination in older women aged 21-26 years.

Importantly, the study looked at the effectiveness of the quadrivalent HPV vaccine, and not of the more recently introduced nonavalent HPV vaccine, which is anticipated to prevent more CIN2+ cases than the quadrivalent HPV vaccine. Therefore, further research, including in women aged over 21 years, will be important as new vaccines become more widely used.

The study included 4357 women with CIN2+ or CIN3+ who were aged 26 or younger when the quadrivalent HPV vaccine was introduced in 2006. For each case, five age-matched controls without CIN2+ or CIN3+ were randomly selected (21773). All women were enrolled at Kaiser Permanente North California. A total of 2837 women enrolled in the study had received at least one dose of the vaccine between 2006 and 2014.

The strongest protection against CIN2+ and CIN3+ was identified for women who had received at least three vaccine doses and had received their first dose aged 14-17 years, or aged 18-20 years. No significant protection was found in women who received their first dose aged 21 years or older, or who received fewer than the full three dose in the series.

"In comparison to other countries, HPV vaccine uptake in the US has been relatively low. Our findings show that girls and women who did not receive the full vaccine series at age 11-12 can still benefit from significant protection if they receive the full three doses of vaccine by the age of 20. The evidence suggests that protection is strongest the earlier the vaccine is initiated, and after the age of 21, the evidence of effectiveness is unclear. Further research in other settings, and using the recently introduced nonavalent vaccine, will now be needed to assess the effectiveness of vaccinating women aged 21-26 years," says lead author Michael J. Silverberg, a research scientist with Kaiser Permanente Northern California's Division of Research, Oakland (USA). [2]

The authors note that only 23 women were diagnosed with cervical cancer in the study, of which only 3 had had prior HPV vaccination. All three women had received at least three doses, and all were 21 or older at the age of the first dose. However, the small numbers limit the researchers' ability to quantify the effect of the HPV vaccine on cervical cancer incidence, rather than the composite outcomes of CIN2+ and CIN3+, which includes both cancer and precancerous lesions.

Additionally, the authors note that the study was conducted in a single health-care setting, meaning that it may only be generalizable to other integrated health care settings and insured women in the area, which may not represent the most at-risk populations. The study did not look at the effect of the HPV vaccine on other clinically important outcomes such as low-grade dysplasia (i.e., CIN1), persistent HPV infection, or genital warts.

Writing in a linked Comment, Sarah Dilley and Warner Huh, Division of Gynecologic Oncology, University of Alabama, Birmingham (USA) advise caution before abandoning the practice of catch-up vaccination in women aged over 21 years: "The results of this study confirm existing research which showed that the HPV vaccine is most effective when given at younger ages, but no benefit was found in patients older than 21 years. Efforts towards increasing HPV vaccine uptake should be focused on younger adolescents--with a priority on vaccinating children aged 11-12 years - and providing catch-up dosing for older adolescents. However, in the setting of low rates of HPV vaccination in the USA, the importance of catch-up dosing in young women should not be ignored. Given that prospective efficacy studies have shown benefits for catch-up vaccination up to at least age 26 years, more data is needed before abandoning this practice."

Forty-four planets in solar systems beyond our own have been unveiled in one go, dwarfing the usual number of confirmations from extrasolar surveys, which is typically a dozen or less. The findings will improve our models of solar systems and may help researchers investigate exoplanet atmospheres. Novel techniques developed to validate the find could hugely accelerate the confirmation of more extrasolar planet candidates.

An international team of astronomers pooled data from U.S. space agency NASA's Kepler and the European Space Agency (ESA)'s Gaia space telescopes, as well as ground-based telescopes in the U.S. Alongside John Livingston, lead author of the study and a graduate student at the University of Tokyo, the team's combined resources led to the confirmed existence of these 44 exoplanets and described various details about them.

A portion of the findings yield some surprising characteristics: "For example, four of the planets orbit their host stars in less than 24 hours," says Livingston. "In other words, a year on each of those planets is shorter than a day here on Earth." These contribute to a small but growing list of "ultrashort-period" planets, so it could turn out they're not as unusual as they might seem.

"It was also gratifying to verify so many small planets," continues Livingston. "Sixteen were in the same size class as Earth, one in particular turning out to be extremely small -- about the size of Venus -- which was a nice affirmation as it's close to the limit of what is possible to detect."

The source observations for this study were made by Kepler, and they would not have happened were it not for a fault in 2013, which prevented accurate control of the space telescope. "Two out of the four control-reaction wheels failed, which meant Kepler couldn't perform its original mission to stare at one specific patch of the sky," explains Professor Motohide Tamura of the University of Tokyo. "This led to its contingent mission, 'K2' -- our observations came from campaign 10 of this mission. We're lucky Kepler continues to function as well as it does."

The planets observed by K2 are known as transiting planets because their orbits bring them in front of their host stars, slightly reducing their brightness. However, other astrophysical phenomena can cause similar signals, so follow-up observations and detailed statistical analyses were performed to confirm the planetary nature of these signals. As part of his doctoral work, Livingston traveled to Kitt Peak observatory in the U.S. state of Arizona to obtain data from a special type of camera, known as a speckle interferometer installed on a large telescope there. These observations, along with follow-up observations from a telescope in the state of Texas, were necessary to characterize the host stars and rule out false positives. The combination of detailed analyses of data from these ground-based telescopes, K2 and Gaia enabled the precise determination of the planets' sizes and temperatures. The team's findings include 27 additional candidates that are likely to be real planets, which will be the subject of future research.

Scientists hope to understand what kinds of planets might be out there, but can only draw valid conclusions if there are enough planets for robust statistical analysis. The addition of a large number of new planets, therefore, leads directly to a better theoretical understanding of solar-system formation. The planets also provide good targets for detailed individual studies to yield measurements of planetary composition, interior structure and atmospheres -- in particular, the 18 planets in several multiplanet systems. "The investigation of other solar systems can help us understand how planets and even our own solar system formed," says Livingston. "The study of other worlds has much to teach us about our own."

Children with allergies have a lower risk of developing complicated appendicitis, according to a new study from Lund University and Skåne University Hospital in Sweden. The findings, now published in JAMA Pediatrics, could pave the way for new diagnostic tools in the future.

"In a study of all the children who underwent surgery for appendicitis in Lund, Sweden, over the span of a decade, we found that the most common form of allergy, such as allergy to pollen and animal fur, was associated with a three times lower risk of developing complicated appendicitis. The lower risk remained when we adjusted for other parameters known to increase the risk of serious appendicitis, such as lower age and long-lasting symptoms", says Martin Salö, a researcher at Lund University and physician at Skåne University Hospital.

Appendicitis is widespread among children and young people, and the condition is the most common cause of emergency abdominal surgery in the world.

One third of children affected have a more complicated form of appendicitis which requires a longer hospital stay and sometimes several surgeries. It is not yet clear why some children are affected by this more serious form of appendicitis, nor whether it is possible to prevent it.

One theory holds that complicated appendicitis depends on the body's immunological response differing to the response in cases of uncomplicated appendicitis. According to this theory, children with allergies have a lower risk of contracting complicated appendicitis, because their immunological response is different from that of non-allergic children. However, this had not been investigated more closely until now.

"The outcome of the study supports the theory that complicated appendicitis has a different immunological development compared to uncomplicated appendicitis. The results also provide clues that we hope can lead to the development of new diagnostic aids such as blood tests", concludes Martin Salö.

The study in brief:

The study included all children under the age of 15 who underwent surgery for appendicitis at Skåne University Hospital in Lund between 2007 and 2017. In total, 605 children were part of the study.

The researchers compared the outcomes for children with what is known as IgE-mediated allergy (102 children) with those for children without this allergy (503 children). Among the children with IgE-mediated allergy, 19.6% contracted more complicated appendicitis. In the group of children with no IgE-mediated allergy, 46.9% were affected.

Rates of dementia diagnosis are higher among black ethnic groups compared to white and Asian groups in the UK, a new UCL-led study has found.

The study, published in Clinical Epidemiology, is the first to compare incidence of dementia diagnosis by ethnicity in any nationally representative sample.

Researchers from UCL Psychiatry and the UCL Institute of Epidemiology & Health Care analysed data from 2,511,681 people, including 66,083 who had a dementia diagnosis, from The Health Improvement Network primary care database between 2007 and 2015.

They found that the incidence of dementia diagnosis was 25% higher among black women than white women, and 28% higher among black men than white men. Asian women and men were 18% and 12% less likely than white women and men, respectively, to have a dementia diagnosis.

More research is needed to understand why people in certain ethnic groups are more likely to develop dementia. It could be that factors such as level of formal education, financial deprivation, smoking, physical activity, mental health and some mid-life health outcomes, which all affect dementia risk, differ between the groups. Other research has found that South Asian people may have a lower genetic risk of getting dementia.

"Our new findings may reflect, for example, that there are inequalities in the care people receive to prevent and treat illnesses associated with dementia," said the study's lead author, Dr Claudia Cooper (UCL Psychiatry). "Or perhaps GPs or patients' families are reluctant to name dementia in communities where more stigma is associated with a dementia diagnosis."

The research team also compared the diagnosis rates to what could be expected in the different groups as predicted by prior research.

"What we found suggests that the rates of people receiving a diagnosis may be lower than the actual rates of dementia in certain groups, particularly among black men. It is concerning that black people appear to be more at risk of dementia but less likely to receive a timely diagnosis," added co-author Dr Tra My Pham (UCL Institute of Epidemiology & Health Care).

The researchers say they cannot yet explain the lower dementia rates they found among people of Asian descent.

"Perhaps British Asians do have a lower risk, or they may only be less likely to be diagnosed when they develop it. Rates of timely diagnosis in the UK have been improving, but it appears that not all groups of society are benefiting equally. It's important that messages that dementia is best diagnosed early are tailored to different groups. We've previously found that people's cultural background can influence how willing or unwilling they are to seek help," said Dr Cooper.

Wesley Dowridge, member of King's College London's Social Care Workforce Research Unit Service User and Carer Advisory Group, and study steering group member, commented: "As a black carer and one of the Windrush generation, these findings make me think about why black people I know have been reluctant to seek help for memory problems: worries about being treated fairly, or about being put in a care home. This study shows how important it is that messages about the benefits of timely dementia diagnoses reach everyone, especially people from minority ethnic groups who may be more at risk."

Co-author Professor Jill Manthorpe (King's College London), added that she hopes many people beyond academics and clinicians will take on board the study's findings. "Family and friends, as well as professionals such as nurses and social workers, have a key role to play in explaining the potential benefits of getting a timely diagnosis and in reducing the fears of talking about dementia. Faith and community groups can also play a part in making sure local dementia services are accessible to all."

CORVALLIS, Ore. - The compounds behind the perfumes and colognes you enjoy have been eliciting olfactory excitement since dinosaurs walked the Earth amid the first appearance of flowering plants, new research reveals.

Oregon State University entomologist George Poinar Jr. and his son Greg, a fragrance collector, found evidence that floral scents originated in primitive flowers as far back as 100 million years ago as pollinator attractants - a role they still play even though today's flowers also have colorful petals for luring pollinators.

"I bet some of the dinosaurs could have detected the scents of these early flowers," George Poinar said. "In fact, floral essences from these early flowers could even have attracted these giant reptiles."

The Poinars examined amber flowers from Burma, including the now extinct glandular laurel flower (Cascolaurus burmensis) and veined star flower (Tropidogyne pentaptera).

The research revealed that the flower-based chemical compounds that are the basis for the perfumes and colognes we use today have been providing olfactory excitement to pollinating insects and other animals since the mid-Cretaceous Period.

Without colorful petals, flowers from that period had to rely solely on scents to attract pollinators.

"You can't detect scents or analyze the chemical components of fossil flowers, but you can find the tissues responsible for the scents," said George Poinar, professor emeritus in the OSU College of Science.

The floral secretory tissues producing these scents include nectaries, glandular trichomes, eliaphores and osmophores.

Nectaries are glands that produce fragrances and sweet deposits that insects love. Glandular trichomes are hairs with cells that make and send out scented secretory products. Eliaphores are stalked aromatic oil glands. oOsmophores, also known as floral fragrance glands, are cell clusters specializing in scent emission.

The study also found that secretory tissues of these Cretaceous flowers are similar in structure to those of their modern descendants. That suggests modern and ancient flowers of the same lineages produced similar essences.

Some of flowers studied were even in the process of emitting compounds at the time they were engulfed by the tree resin that later became amber.

The study also included a milkweed flower (Discoflorus neotropicus) and an acacia flower (Senegalia eocaribbeansis) in 20- to 30-million-year-old Dominican Republic amber.

The anther glands on the fossil acacia flower were especially attractive to bees, one of which was fossilized while visiting the stamens. Today, honeybees are still visiting acacia flowers that have the same type of flora glands that existed in the ancient past.

"It's obvious flowers were producing scents to make themselves more attractive to pollinators long before humans began using perfumes to make themselves more appealing to other humans," George Poinar said.

New research shows that humans "see" the actions of others not quite as they really are, but slightly distorted by their expectations.

Published today (8 August) in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the study could explain why people get others' actions so wrong and see ambiguous behaviour as meaningful, according to authors from the University of Plymouth School of Psychology.

The study, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, saw 85 participants watch an actor reach for an object with a straight or arched trajectory on a touch screen.

In some screenings of the actions, an obstruction was put in between the hand and the object it was reaching for (see image 1). The arched trajectory was therefore expected to avoid the obstruction, whereas the straight trajectory was 'inefficient' as it would knock into it. Where there was no obstruction, the straight action was free to reach directly for the target, whereas the arched trajectory was unnecessary and unexpected.

In the experiment, the action disappeared mid-trajectory and participants touched the last seen screen position of the hand.

Results (see image 2) showed that people had judged that the straight trajectory hand moved higher if it was inefficient, to avoid the obstruction, while perceiving that the arched trajectory hand was further downwards towards the target if there was no obstruction.

In both cases, people's perceptions were based on what they had expected the hand to do to maximise efficiency - not what it actually did.

Study author Matthew Hudson said that while the experiment pertained to physical movement, it might help us understand how people find out what others are thinking and feeling; in short, why they are behaving in the way they do.

"Primates interpret behaviour as goal-directed and expect others to achieve goals by the most efficient means possible," he said. "While this is accepted among psychologists, little has been known about its underlying mechanisms.

"What we have found in this study may be important for various reasons. Firstly, it shows that people make predictions when they see the actions of others. It has been argued for a long while that people constantly make such predictions, and use them to figure out if other people see the same things as we do.

"So imagine you are a passenger in a car, and see a cat run out onto the street. If the driver has seen it, you can picture in your mind that they should now slow down and swerve to avoid it. If they don't do this, you immediately know that they probably haven't seen the cat and you can warn them.

"Such predictions can also be used to coordinate with other people. For example, if we want to do a joint task like catching a ball that someone throws to you, it helps if you already see, in your mind's eye, what the other person is going to do.

"Finally, the results show that people "see" others' actions in the light of their own expectations. If you see someone look at something with a neutral expression and think they are angry, they might look a bit angrier than they really are. This might explain why people often get others' actions so wrong and see ambiguous behaviour as meaningful."

URBANA, Ill. - It can be a struggle for beef cattle producers to maintain mineral status, especially for cattle on pasture, so many implement a trace mineral supplementation program. But research on newer trace mineral strategies, including injectables, has been inconsistent and incomplete. In a set of recent studies, University of Illinois animal scientists study the effects of the injectable trace mineral Multimin®90 on reproductive performance in beef heifers.

"We definitely have heard a lot of producers asking, 'What about this product? Does it work?' So we started to do studies on it," says Dan Shike, associate professor in the Department of Animal Sciences at U of I.

In the first study, published in Translational Animal Science, Shike and his research team injected heifers with Multimin®90 at a rate of 1 milliliter per 68 kilograms, 33 days prior to artificial insemination (AI). The heifers were spread out in three herds across Illinois, in Champaign, Simpson, and Baylis.

"In those three herds, we had variable results," Shike says. "In two of the herds, we had very good AI conception rates in our controls, so we were already doing well and did not see a response to the injectable. In the last herd, the controls were below where we would like to see. By giving the Multimin®90, there was an improvement in conception rates. In that particular case, it appeared that trace mineral was limiting."

In the second study, in the Journal of Animal Science, Shike and his team injected Multimin®90 into heifers every 90 days from weaning to final pregnancy confirmation, at variable rates according to age, body weight, and label specifications. It is the first published study to evaluate the effects of repeated trace mineral injections.

In this case, the injections had no effect on reproductive performance, but selenium and copper status improved compared to animals that received only saline injections.

In explaining the result, Shike says it's complicated. "In pregnancy, there are so many factors, but the result is either yes or no. In this particular study, the limiting factor was not trace mineral. We had a tougher forage year, so all the heifers were a little lighter, thinner than expected. In this case, overall energy status was likely the most limiting."

Even if it doesn't make a huge difference in reproductive performance, Shike still sees value in the product because trace minerals play critical roles in overall cattle health and productivity. And ingestible trace mineral products, such as free-choice minerals in pasture-fed cattle, can be hit-or-miss.

"When producers ask about this, my first questions are, 'How have your AI conception rates been? Are you hitting a home run every year?' If so, then you probably don't have a trace mineral issue.

"But if you've had poor AI conception in three out of four years, you need to start evaluating. It may not be trace mineral, but it's one of the things you should look at. Consider a different mineral program or an injectable. The value of an injectable is you pick the timing and you ensure every animal gets it."

He says that value is worth it to some purebred seedstock producers, who view the injectable as a cheap insurance program. "If you can get a couple extra pregnancies out of this, you can pay for all your Multimin®90 for a couple of years in these operations."

As a personality characteristic, pride gets a pretty bad rap. Counted among the seven deadly sins (right up there with greed, lust and envy), it is considered by some to be the worst of the lot. And still others hold pride as the motivating factor behind all great mistakes.

But is it really as bad as all that?

Perhaps not, says a research team at the University of Montreal and UC Santa Barbara's Center for Evolutionary Psychology (CEP). Pride, they argue, was built into human nature by evolution because it served an important function for our foraging ancestors. Our ancestors, they explained, lived in small, highly interdependent bands and faced frequent life-threatening reversals. They needed their fellow band members to value them enough during bad times to pull them through. Therefore, in making choices, humans had to weigh their own individual self-interest against winning the approval of others, so that when they needed help others would value them enough to give it.

The researchers' findings that the human-universal emotion of pride is one evolved solution to this problem are highlighted in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The Purpose of Pride

"People evolved to have a selfish streak, but they also needed a contrary pull toward acts that would make others value them in a world without soup kitchens, police, hospitals or insurance," said lead author Daniel Sznycer, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Montreal. "The feeling of pride is an internal reward that draws us towards such acts."

"For this to work well, people can't just stumble about, discovering after the fact what brings approval," said Leda Cosmides, a professor of psychology at UCSB, co-director of the CEP and a co-author of the paper. "That's too late. In making choices among alternatives, our motivational system needs to implicitly estimate in advance the amount of approval each alternative act would trigger in the minds of others."

A person who did only what others wanted would be selected against, the authors point out, but a person who was purely selfish would be shunned rapidly -- another dead end.

"This leads to a precise quantitative prediction," said John Tooby, a professor of anthropology at UCSB, CEP co-director and a coauthor of the paper. "Lots of research has shown that humans can anticipate personal rewards and costs accurately, like lost time or food. Here we predicted that the specific intensity of the pride a person would anticipate feeling for taking an action would track how much others in their local world would actually value that specific act. The theory we're evaluating is that the intensity of pride you feel when you consider whether to take a potential action is not just a feeling and a motivator; it is also carries useful information to seduce you to make choices that balance both the personal costs and benefits and the social costs and benefits."

A Universal Human Quality

As a neural system, pride inclines you to factor in others' regard alongside private benefits so the act associated with the highest total payoff is selected, the authors argue. "One implication of this theory is that those around you benefit, too, as a side effect of your pursuing actions they value," said Sznycer. "Thus, pride is more a win-win than it is a sin."

A key part of the argument is that this neurally based motivational system is a part of our species' biology. "If that is true, we should be able to find this same pride-valuation relationship in diverse cultures and ecologies all around the world, including in face-to-face societies whose small scale echoes the more intimate social worlds in which we think pride evolved," Sznycer noted.

To test this hypothesis, the team collected data from 10 traditional small-scale societies in Central and South America, Africa and Asia. The people in these societies speak very different languages (e.g., Mayangna, Tuvanian, Igbo), have diverse religions (e.g., Sunni Islam and shamanism), and make a living in different ways (hunting, small-scale agriculture, nomadic pastoralism). If pride is part of universal, evolved human nature, then the research should find that pride closely tracks the values of others, for each specific act, in each community; but they should find wide variation in this relationship if pride is more akin to a cultural invention, present in some places but not others.

"We observed an extraordinarily close match between the community's degree of positive regard for people who display each of these acts or traits and the intensities of pride individuals anticipate feeling if they took those acts or displayed those traits," Sznycer said. "Feelings of pride really move in lockstep with the values held by those around you, as the theory predicts." Further studies, he added, have demonstrated that it is specifically pride -- as opposed to other positive emotions -- that tracks others' values.

Of interesting note, the researchers said, pride tracked not only the values of fellow community members but also the values of participants in the other cultures -- although the latter relationship was more variable. For example, the pride expressed by the Mayangna forager-horticulturalists of the Bosawás Reserve in Nicaragua tracked not only the values expressed by fellow Mayangnas, but also the values of pastoralists from Tuva in Russia, Amazigh farmers from Drâa-Tafilalet in Morocco and farmers from Enugu in Nigeria. This additional finding suggests that at least some of the social values people hold around the world are universal.

An Inherited System

"Humans are a uniquely cooperative species, so pride leads people to do many valuable things for each other, " Cosmides said. However, the authors continued, pride in the form of dominance evolved when there was less cooperation, and it was advantageous for an animal to deter rivals from scarce resources by displaying the degree of cost it could inflict. "Humans inherited this system too, and, as many have shown, they are proud not only of the good they can do, but also of their aggressive abilities," Sznycer explained. "Our data supports this, too."

Pride has this two-edged reputation, the researchers added, because while it often motivates us to benefit others, it also can sometimes lead us to exploit others. As Tooby said, "When people become intoxicated with how valuable they are to others -- or how dangerous -- they feel they can safely take advantage of this to exploit people. Prima donnas, alphas and narcissists are the result."

"For better or worse, the pride system appears to be a fundamental part of human nature," Sznycer concluded, "a neural system that evolved because it helped people increase their esteem and status in the eyes of others."