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Bottom Line: Among premenopausal women with breast cancer, those who were previously treated with radiation for a primary childhood, adolescent, or young adult cancer had worse breast cancer-specific survival.

Journal in Which the Study was Published: Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research

Author: Candice A. Sauder, MD, surgical oncologist at the University of California (UC) Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center

Background: "We traditionally use similar therapies for primary breast cancer and second primary breast cancer, and base our treatment approaches on specific prognostic factors," said Sauder. "Our results suggest that breast cancer-related survival is significantly decreased among all survivors of childhood, adolescent, and young adult cancer who were treated with radiation therapy and then develop breast cancer, even in the setting of early-stage breast cancer and other characteristics that are considered good prognostic factors. As such, we may need to tailor our treatment strategy for women with a second primary breast cancer."

According to the National Cancer Institute, a second primary cancer is defined as a new cancer that occurs in an individual who has had cancer in the past.

Treatments for many common childhood and adolescent/young adult (AYA) cancers incorporate radiation therapy, which is a risk factor for second primary breast cancer. Second primary breast malignancies in younger women who had received prior radiation therapy have unique clinical characteristics, noted Sauder. However, it is unknown whether such features are related to prior radiation treatments or to the premenopausal status, she said.

How the Study was Conducted: To better understand how radiation treatment used in the primary setting affects the clinical characteristics of second primary breast cancers in younger women, Sauder and colleagues interrogated the California Cancer Registry, which encompasses nearly all invasive cancers diagnosed in California. They analyzed data from women ages 12 to 50 (to capture premenopausal breast cancer based on approximations of age at menarche and menopause) diagnosed with primary (107,751 women) or second primary breast cancer (1,147 women) between January 1, 1988, and December 31, 2014. Patients with second primary breast cancer were limited to those who had a first primary cancer treated with radiation between the ages of 12 and 39.

The researchers compared demographic and clinical factors between women with second primary breast cancer and those with primary breast cancer. Further, they compared breast cancer-specific survival between these groups, both collectively and for specific subgroups, including age, race/ethnicity, lymph node involvement, hormone receptor status, and HER2 status.

Results: Overall, compared with premenopausal women with primary breast cancer, those with second primary breast cancer previously treated with radiation were more likely to be Hispanic or Black, had earlier stage tumors, had higher grade tumors, had cancer without lymph node involvement, and had tumors that were hormone receptor-negative. Women with second primary breast cancer in this cohort had roughly twice the risk of breast cancer-specific death compared with women with primary breast cancer.

The researchers also discovered that breast cancer-specific survival among women with second primary breast cancer previously treated with radiation was significantly worse for all subgroups considered. Notably, subgroups of women who typically have a better prognosis in the primary breast cancer setting --including women with hormone receptor-positive tumors, tumors without lymph node involvement, stage I disease, and women of Asian or Pacific Island ethnicity--experienced worse survival after a second primary breast cancer.

For example, women with second primary breast cancer previously treated with radiation had over twice the risk of breast cancer-specific mortality if they had stage I disease, and nearly twice the risk of breast cancer-specific mortality if they had stage II or stage III disease, compared with women whose primary breast cancer was in the same stage. Similarly, women with second primary breast cancer in this cohort had roughly 2.4 times the risk of breast cancer-specific mortality if they had tumors without lymph node involvement, and roughly 1.7 times the risk of breast cancer-specific mortality if they had tumors with lymph node involvement, compared with women with primary breast cancer with the same lymph node involvement status.

Author's Comments: "We found that the negative impact of second primary breast cancer among women previously treated with radiation was particularly strong in subgroups of patients that have superior survival after primary breast cancer," said Sauder. "It will be important to prospectively evaluate how certain treatments, such as specific radiation fields or chemotherapeutic agents, can affect second primary breast cancer outcomes."

Study Limitations: Limitations of the study include a lack of comorbidity data and genetic information, including BRCA mutation status, which can influence treatment decisions and may affect second primary breast cancer risk.

How does our brain store information?

Seeking an answer, researchers at CHU Sainte-Justine Hospital and Université de Montréal have made a major discovery in understanding the mechanisms underlying learning and memory formation.

The results of their study are presented today in Nature Communications.

Led by Professor Roberto Araya, the team studied the function and morphological transformation of dendritic spines, tiny protrusions located on the branches of neurons, during synaptic plasticity, thought to be the underlying mechanism for learning and memory.

"We are very excited because this is the first time that the rules of synaptic plasticity, a process directly related to memory formation in the brain, have been discovered in a way that allows us to better understand plasticity and ultimately how memories are formed when neurons of the cerebral neocortex receive single and/or multiple streams of sensory information" said Professor Araya.

A neuronal "tree"

The brain is made up of billions of excitable nerve cells better known as neurons. They specialize in communication and information processing.

"Imagine a tree," said Araya. "The roots are represented by the axon, the central trunk by the cell body, the peripheral branches by the dendrites and finally, the leaves by the dendritic spines. These thousands of small leaves act as a gateway by receiving excitatory information from other cells. They will decide whether this information is significant enough to be amplified and circulated to other neurons.

"This is a key concept," he added, "in the processing, integration and storage of information and therefore in memory and learning."

Neurons amplify the "volume"

Dendritic spines serve as a contact zone between neurons by receiving inputs (information) of varying strength. If an input is persistent, a mechanism by which neurons amplify the "volume" is triggered so that it can better "hear" that particular piece of information.

Otherwise, information of a low "volume" will be further turned down so that it goes unnoticed. This phenomenon corresponds to synaptic plasticity, which involves the potentiation or depression of synaptic input strength.

"This is the fundamental law of time-dependent plasticity, or Spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP), which adjusts the strength of connections between neurons in the brain and is believed to contribute to learning and memory," said Sabrina Tazerart, co-author of the study.

While the scientific literature shows this phenomenon and how neurons connect, the precise structural organization of dendritic spines and the rules that control the induction of synaptic plasticity have remained unknown.

"Laws of connections"

Araya's team has succeeded in shedding light onto the mechanisms underlying STDP.

"Until now, no one knew how synaptic inputs (incoming information) were arranged in the 'neural tree' and what precisely causes a dendritic spine to increase or decrease the strength, or loudness, of information it passes on," the professor said. "Our goal was to extract "laws of synaptic connectivity" responsible for building memories in the brain.'"

For their study, his team employed preclinical models at a juvenile stage, a critical period for learning and memory in the brain.

Using advanced techniques in two-photon microscopy that mimic synaptic contacts between two neurons, the researchers discovered an important law related to the arrangement of information received by dendritic spines.

Their work shows that depending on the number of inputs received (synapses) and their proximity, the information will be taken into account and stored differently.

"We found that if more than one input occurs within a small piece of tree branch, the cell will always consider this information important and will increase its volume," said co-first author Diana E. Mitchell.

"A major discovery"

"This is a major discovery," added Araya.

"Structural and functional alterations of dendritic spines, the major recipients of inputs from other neurons, are often associated with neurodegenerative conditions, such as Fragile X syndrome or autism, as the patient can no longer process or store information properly," he said.

"This disrupts the logic of memory construction. Now, by understanding the mechanisms underlying the dynamics of dendritic spines and how they impact the nervous system, we will be able to develop new and better-adapted therapeutic approaches."

A new paper, co-authored by a University of Sussex scientist, has revealed major holes in an international treaty designed to help repair the ozone layer, putting human health at risk and increasing the speed of climate change.

Evidence amassed by scientists in the 1970s and 1980s showed that the depletion of the ozone layer in the stratosphere was one of the first truly global threats to humanity.

Chemicals produced through economic activity were slowly drifting to the upper atmosphere where they were destroying the ozone layer, which plays an indispensable role in protecting humanity and ecosystems by absorbing harmful ultraviolet radiation from the sun.

In 1987, countries signed up to a treaty to take reparative action, known as the 'Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, which was eventually ratified by all 197 UN member states.'

But in a paper published today in Nature Communications, experts have flagged major gaps in the treaty which must be addressed if the ozone layer is to be repaired and avert the risks posed to human health and the climate.

Professor Joseph Alcamo, Director of the Sussex Sustainability Research Programme and former Chief Scientist at UNEP, said: "The Montreal Protocol and its amendments have no doubt been an effective worldwide effort to control the toughest substances depleting the ozone. But our paper shows that the treaty has developed too many gaps to fully repair the ozone layer. It's time to plug the holes in the ozone hole treaty."

Professor Alcamo, along with lead author Professor Susan Solomon of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and co-author Professor A. R. Ravishankara of Colorado State University, have identified several 'gaps' which consist of ozone depleting substances not covered in the treaty.

These include:

Unaccounted for new sources of CFC and HFC emissions recently detected in the atmosphere.

Leakages of ozone depleting substances from old air conditioners, refrigerators and insulating foams.

Inadvertent releases of ozone-depleting gases from some manufacturing processes.

Emissions of the ozone-depleting gas, nitrous oxide, stemming mostly from agricultural activities.

The authors have called for a range of solutions to plug the gaps including:

A toughening of compliance with the treaty by using provisions that are already part of the Montreal Protocol.

Boosting the effectiveness of the treaty by adding in regular environmental monitoring of ozone-depleting substances.

Controlling the emissions of substances that have slipped through the treaty up to now, including nitrous oxide emissions from agriculture, and ozone-depleting substances leaking from old refrigerators and other equipment.

In addition, because ozone-depleting substances and their substitutes contribute significantly to global warming, the authors urge a faster phasing out of all of these substances as a way of combatting climate change.

The ozone layer absorbs harmful ultraviolet radiation from the sun but this protective layer is slowly destroyed by industrial gases that slowly drift up from the earth's surface including CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) contained in refrigerants, foaming agents and, earlier, propellants in aerosol sprays.

Discovery of the 'ozone hole' above high latitudes in the 1980s provided final evidence of the importance of ozone depletion.

By 1985, countries had signed the Vienna Convention, which pledged to reduce CFCs and other ozone-depleting substances. Two years later, they signed the Montreal Protocol that laid out a plan of action.

During his time as the first Chief Scientist of UNEP, which hosts the Secretariat of the Montreal Protocol, Professor Alcamo coordinated groups of scientists in producing policy-oriented reports that addressed emerging ozone depletion issues.

UNEP reports that 98% of the chemicals targeted for removal in the Montreal Protocol had been phased out by 2009, avoiding hundreds of millions of cases of skin cancer and tens of millions of cases of cataracts. However, this new paper shows that some important sources were not targeted by the Protocol - and urgently need to be now.

Professor Alcamo said: "Since most ozone-depleting gases and their current substitutes are also potent greenhouse gases, it's time to use the Montreal Protocol to draw down these gases even faster to help avoid dangerous global warming.

"We won't be able to reach the global Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 without closing the gaps in the ozone treaty. It's hard to imagine, for example, how the global health and climate goals could be reached without drastically drawing down all ozone-depleting gases and their substitutes. If we fail, humanity will have to face a higher risk of skin cancers and more rapid climate change."

A review of COVID-19 studies reveals a troubling connection between two health crises: coronavirus and obesity.

From COVID-19 risk to recovery, the odds are stacked against those with obesity, and a new study in Obesity Reviews raises concerns about the impact of obesity on the effectiveness of a future COVID-19 vaccine.

Researchers examined the available published literature on individuals infected with the virus and found that those with obesity (body mass index over 30) were at a greatly increased risk for hospitalization (113%), more likely to be admitted to the intensive care unit (74%), and had a higher risk of death (48%) than those with a lower BMI.

A team of researchers at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill’s Gillings School of Global Public Health and the Carolina Population Center collaborated with co authors from the Saudi Health Council and the World Bank on the paper.

For the paper, researchers reviewed immunological and biomedical data to provide a detailed layout of the mechanisms and pathways that link obesity with increased risk of COVID-19 as well as an increased likelihood of developing more severe complications from the virus.

Obesity is already associated with numerous underlying risk factors for COVID-19, including hypertension, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, and chronic kidney and liver disease.

Metabolic changes caused by obesity — such as insulin resistance and inflammation – make it difficult for individuals with obesity to fight some infections, a trend that can be seen in other infectious diseases, such as influenza and hepatitis.

During times of infection, uncontrolled serum glucose, which is common in individuals with hyperglycemia, can impair immune cell function.

“All of these factors can influence immune cell metabolism, which determines how bodies respond to pathogens, like the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus,” said co-author Melinda Beck, professor of nutrition at Gillings School of Global Public Health. “Individuals with obesity are also more likely to experience physical ailments that make fighting this disease harder, such as sleep apnea, which increases pulmonary hypertension, or a body mass index that increases difficulties in a hospital setting with intubation.”

Previous work by Beck and others has demonstrated that the influenza vaccine is less effective in adults with obesity. The same may be true for a future SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, said Beck.

“However, we are not saying that the vaccine will be ineffective in populations with obesity, but rather that obesity should be considered as a modifying factor to be considered for vaccine testing,” she said. “Even a less protective vaccine will still offer some level of immunity.”

Roughly 40% of Americans are obese and the pandemic’s resulting lockdown has led to a number of conditions that make it harder for individuals to achieve or sustain a healthy weight.

Working from home, limiting social visits and a reduction in everyday activities — all in an effort to stop the spread of the virus — means we’re moving less than ever, said lead study author Barry Popkin, professor of nutrition at Gillings School of Global Public Health and member of the Carolina Population Center

The ability to access healthy foods has also taken a hit. Economic hardships put those who are already food insecure at further risk, making them more vulnerable to conditions that can arise from consuming unhealthy foods.

“We’re not only at home more and experience more stress due to the pandemic, but we’re also not visiting the grocery store as often, which means the demand for highly processed junk foods and sugary beverages that are less expensive and more shelf-stable has increased,” he said. “These cheap, highly processed foods are high in sugar, sodium and saturated fat and laden with highly refined carbohydrates, which all increase the risk of not only excess weight gain but also key noncommunicable diseases.”

Popkin, who is part of the Global Food Research Program at UNC-Chapel Hill, said the findings highlight why governments must address the underlying dietary contributors to obesity and implement strong public health policies proven to reduce obesity at a population level. Other countries, like Chile and Mexico, have adopted policies from taxing foods high in sugar to introducing warning labels on packaged foods that are high in sugar, fats and sodium and restricting the marketing of junk foods to children.

“Given the significant threat COVID-19 represents to individuals with obesity, healthy food policies can play a supportive — and especially important — role in the mitigation of COVID-19 mortality and morbidity,” Popkin said.

Imagine microscopic life-forms, such as bacteria, transported through space, and landing on another planet. The bacteria finding suitable conditions for its survival could then start multiplying again, sparking life at the other side of the universe. This theory, called "panspermia", support the possibility that microbes may migrate between planets and distribute life in the universe. Long controversial, this theory implies that bacteria would survive the long journey in outer space, resisting to space vacuum, temperature fluctuations, and space radiations.

"The origin of life on Earth is the biggest mystery of human beings. Scientists can have totally different points of view on the matter. Some think that life is very rare and happened only once in the Universe, while others think that life can happen on every suitable planet. If panspermia is possible, life must exist much more often than we previously thought," says Dr. Akihiko Yamagishi, a Professor at Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences and principal investigator of the space mission Tanpopo.

In 2018, Dr. Yamagishi and his team tested the presence of microbes in the atmosphere. Using an aircraft and scientific balloons, the researchers, found Deinococcal bacteria floating 12 km above the earth. But while Deinococcus are known to form large colonies (easily larger than one millimeter) and be resistant to environmental hazards like UV radiation, could they resist long enough in space to support the possibility of panspermia?

To answer this question, Dr. Yamagishi and the Tanpopo team, tested the survival of the radioresistant bacteria Deinococcus in space. The study, now published in Frontiers in Microbiology, shows that thick aggregates can provide sufficient protection for the survival of bacteria during several years in the harsh space environment.

Dr. Yamagishi and his team came to this conclusion by placing dried Deinococcus aggregates in exposure panels outside of the International Space Station (ISS). The samples of different thicknesses were exposed to space environment for one, two, or three years and then tested for their survival.

After three years, the researchers found that all aggregates superior to 0.5 mm partially survived to space conditions. Observations suggest that while the bacteria at the surface of the aggregate died, it created a protective layer for the bacteria beneath ensuring the survival of the colony. Using the survival data at one, two, and three years of exposure, the researchers estimated that a pellet thicker than 0.5 mm would have survived between 15 and 45 years on the ISS. The design of the experiment allowed the researcher to extrapolate and predict that a colony of 1 mm of diameter could potentially survive up to 8 years in outer space conditions.

"The results suggest that radioresistant Deinococcus could survive during the travel from Earth to Mars and vice versa, which is several months or years in the shortest orbit," says Dr. Yamagishi.

This work provides, to date, the best estimate of bacterial survival in space. And, while previous experiments prove that bacteria could survive in space for a long period when benefitting from the shielding of rock (i.e. lithopanspermia), this is the first long-term space study raising the possibility that bacteria could survive in space in the form of aggregates, raising the new concept of "massapanspermia". Yet, while we are one step closer to prove panspermia possible, the microbe transfer also depends on other processes such as ejection and landing, during which the survival of bacteria still needs to be assessed.

Scientists at Nagoya University and colleagues in Japan have identified two antagonistic genes involved in rice plant stem growth. Their findings, published in the journal Nature, could lead to new ways for genetically modifying rice crops.

Longer, deepwater rice crops are planted in South Asia and West Africa to survive floods. Shorter paddy rice varieties are widely cultivated worldwide because they are easier to harvest.

A key driver of plant growth is a hormone called gibberellic acid. It activates cell division in the stem tissue, causing the stem to lengthen. Breeders know they can control plant height by stimulating or inhibiting gibberellic acid activity. However, exactly how this works has been unclear.

Bioscientist Motoyuki Ashikari has been studying the growth and evolution of rice for years. He and a team of researchers conducted genetic studies and identified two genes that are involved in regulating rice plant growth.

"We showed that gibberellic acid is necessary, but not enough, for stem elongation," says Ashikari.

Interestingly, the two genes, called ACCELERATOR OF INTERNODE ELONGATION 1 (ACE1) and DECELERATOR OF INTERNODE ELONGATION 1 (DEC1), counteract each other as part of the regulation process.

In the presence of gibberellic acid, ACE1 stimulates cell division and elongation of the stem's 'internode' sections in deepwater rice. The shorter paddy rice variety did not have a functional ACE1 gene, but it did have a homologous ACE1-like gene that was switched on to activate stem elongation at a different point of plant development.

DEC1 was found in both the deepwater and paddy rice varieties. Its expression was reduced when deepwater rice plants were placed in deep water or treated with gibberellic acid. However, DEC1 continued to be expressed in paddy rice, even under the same conditions, suggesting this gene helps to suppress stem growth.

"We also found that ACE1 and DEC1 are conserved and functional in other plant species, like barley and other grasses, so our investigations improve understanding of the regulation of stem elongation in members of the Gramineae family that may have similar stem elongation mechanisms," says Ashikari.

The team next aims to understand stem elongation at the molecular level by identifying factors that are associated with ACE1 and DEC1 expression.

Low socioeconomic families - and particularly women - experienced increased financial hardship, food insecurity, domestic violence and mental health challenges during COVID-19 lockdown measures in Bangladesh, a new research study shows.

In the first study of its kind, Australian and Bangladeshi researchers documented the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdown measures on the wellbeing of women and their families in rural Bangladesh. The study found that low socioeconomic families experienced a range of economic and mental health challenges during the two-month stay-at-home order, and women reported an increase in intimate partner violence.

The study, published today in The Lancet Global Health, suggests in the event of future public health lockdowns, the wellbeing of families - and particularly women - needs be actively addressed.

At a glance

Australian and Bangladeshi researchers, in the first study of its kind, joined forces to study the impact of lockdown measures in a rural community in Bangladesh.

Lockdown measures enforced due to the COVID-19 pandemic caused many families' incomes to drop below the international poverty line.

There was an increase in food insecurity, depression, anxiety and domestic violence during the lockdown period.

Devastating impacts of lockdown

Like many countries around the world, Bangladesh used stay-at-home (or lockdown) orders to limit the spread of COVID-19 in April and May 2020. Using an existing research network in Bangladesh, a collaborative team led by the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute and the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Diseases Research in Bangladesh was able to measure the impact of the lockdown on financial stability, food security, mental health and domestic violence in 2424 families in a rural Bangladesh community.

The impact of the lockdown on households was worrying, said Associate Professor Sant-Rayn Pasricha from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute.

"While the lockdown was an essential public health measure to prevent the spread of COVID-19, we were concerned about the problems it could pose for the families in our study," Associate Professor Pasricha said.

"Comparing how families were faring before and during lockdown, we observed substantial financial and mental health pressures experienced during lockdown."

The study revealed 96 per cent of families experienced a reduction in employment and 91 per considered themselves to be financially unstable.

"During the lockdown, almost half (47 per cent) of families saw their earnings drop below the international poverty line of US$1.90 per day," Associate Professor Pasricha said.

"Seventy per cent experienced food insecurity, with one in six families running out of food, going hungry or missing meals."

The lockdown also had mental health impacts, with women showing an increase in depression symptoms, and 68 per cent of participants reporting their anxiety level had increased. Concerningly, among the women who reported emotional, physical or sexual violence from their intimate partner, more than half reported violence had increased since lockdown.

Families need more support

Associate Professor Pasricha said the study indicated the lockdown had unintended yet devastating outcomes for the families.

"Stay-at-home orders lasting more than two months, in a rural South Asian setting, have inflicted an enormous economic and psychosocial burden on women and their families," he said.

Associate Professor Pasricha said the results reflected similar studies that indicated the flow-on effect of stay-at-home orders to food security and nutrition would be experienced globally.

"The marked increase in severe food insecurity in our study population shows the impact of economic pressure on food access and supports modelling to suggest the pandemic could have a catastrophic effect on food security and consequently on nutrition worldwide.

"Our study, which is the first of its kind, highlights the need for wide-reaching welfare and other forms of financial support for families impacted by lockdown measures, not only for those on low incomes. Crucially, social support is needed to protect women's safety and it is essential that domestic violence intervention services remain accessible during lockdown.

Bangladeshi Principal investigator, Dr Jena Hamadani, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Diseases Research, Bangladesh, said she hoped the research would help inform governments about the need for welfare support for people in rural communities in low and middle income countries during lockdowns.

"We hope our findings will be valuable for public health officials, and will inform and improve future public health measures, should lockdowns continue," Dr Hamadani said.

Primates receive a lot of research attention and conservation funding compared to other taxonomic groups, owing largely to their anthropological significance and charisma. Yet, we remain unable to conserve them effectively. To date, about 60 percent of primate species are threatened with extinction and 75 percent have declining populations.

The authors of the new study ascribe this paradox to the severe lack of evidence for effective conservation of the world's primates. Compiled by a team of 59 primate researchers and practitioners, as well as scientists from the Conservation Evidence Initiative in Cambridge, the study examined roughly 13,000 primate studies. Only 80 of these studies investigated the effectiveness of primate conservation interventions, which is very few compared to other taxa. In addition, only 12 percent of threatened primates and only 14 percent of all primate species recognized today were covered by these intervention studies.

Intervention studies focused on large-bodied primates and Old World monkeys, particularly great apes, but left out entire families, such as tarsiers and night monkeys. "Whether a species was threatened or not played no significant role for the scientists in the choice of their studied species," said Dr Jessica Junker from iDiv, MLU and MPI-EVA, who led the research effort together with Dr Silviu Petrovan from the University of Cambridge's Department of Zoology. "We therefore lack the evidence-based information necessary to effectively protect and manage many vulnerable species."

In addition to the taxonomic biases, the authors also found that studies were biased towards specific geographic regions and interventions. More specifically, less than half (41 percent) of the 162 possible primate conservation interventions identified by primate experts were evaluated quantitatively.

Even those studies in which tests on the effectiveness of measures had been carried out failed in most cases (79 percent) to provide evidence of effective protection of primates. This was due to studies lacking quantitative data, difficulties in undertaking post-implementation monitoring of populations or individuals, or implementing several interventions at once. "The fact that so many measures are implemented without knowing whether they will work at all is an absolutely alarming result, considering the vulnerability of this group of species," said Petrovan. "Ideally, studies should identify the most effective interventions for all primate conservationists."

The problem of proving the effectiveness of primate protection measures is also due to the animals' survival and reproduction strategies. "Primates tend to occur at low densities, become relatively old and have few offspring, which means that generational changes take a relatively long time. In addition, their preferred habitat in the trees makes them difficult to count. This requires innovative methods and intense monitoring over long periods, specific knowledge and hard-to-obtain long-term funding," said Dr Hjalmar Kühl from iDiv and MPI EVA), senior author of the study.

Another disincentive for primate researchers to conduct evaluations for primate conservation actions is that publishing these can be extremely time- and resource-intensive and difficult to achieve in high-impact science journals, especially when they show that a conservation action was not effective.

The authors propose several actions to improve the evidence base for primate conservation, including raising resources for intervention-effectiveness testing and publication, developing guidelines for primate conservation interventions, shifting the research focus on threatened species, understudied regions and seeking long-term collaborations with stakeholders.

"The declines of many primate species highlight the urgent need for funding and swift action," said Kühl. "If we are to prevent imminent extinctions and ensure the survival of viable primate populations in the long term in a cost-effective manner, we need to adopt an evidence-based approach to primate conservation."

TORONTO - An international, first-of-its-kind cardiology trial used personalized genetic testing to reduce by 34 per cent the number of serious adverse events following balloon angioplasty, a treatment for the most common form of heart disease.

For patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI)--a non-surgical procedure where physicians inflate a balloon and place a metal stent in narrowed heart arteries to improve blood flow to the heart --the choice of antiplatelet therapy can be critical to post-treatment success, and to minimize the chance of heart attack or stroke.

The TAILOR-PCI trial, co-led by principal investigators Dr. Michael Farkouh, cardiologist and Multinational Clinical Trials Chair at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre and Dr. Naveen Pereira, Professor of Medicine and cardiologist at Mayo Clinic, studied the effectiveness of genetic-guided therapy in patients that have had PCIs when compared to conventional therapy.

"The trial introduces the concept and validates the approach to personalized medicine when it comes to antiplatelet therapy, and therefore allows our physicians to potentially change their practice based on the needs of patients undergoing PCI," says Dr. Farkouh. "This will potentially inform the kinds of therapies patients with heart disease are prescribed after PCI worldwide."

Placement of a balloon and metal stent inside a heart artery can irritate the blood vessel and cause it to clot, which can block the artery from being treated. PCI patients are prescribed medications to prevent their blood from clotting - the most common medication used is clopidogrel, which stops blood platelets from sticking together and prevents clots from forming. However, in almost a third of all patients, the gene (CYP2C19) required to activate clopidogrel does not work.

As a result, patients with this genetic variant may be at a higher risk of experiencing adverse cardiovascular events, such as heart attack or stroke in the year following their procedure.

Current guidelines do not recommend genetic testing when prescribing clopidogrel, and the trial was designed to determine if genetic testing would decrease cardiovascular complications after PCI.

The Journal of the American Medical Association published the results of the TAILOR-PCI trial on August 25, 2020. The trial enrolled 5,302 patients treated for heart artery blockage with one or more stents and followed them for one year.

Half the group was tested for the CYP2C19 gene variation, and carriers (35%) were treated with the alternative anti-platelet medication, Ticagrelor. The remainder of the group was given Clopidogrel, as was the entire control group of patients who did not receive genetic testing before PCI.

Although the TAILOR-PCI trial did not meet its primary endpoint of demonstrating a 50 per cent reduction at one-year post-procedure, trends did show a benefit towards genetic testing with a 34 per cent reduction in serious adverse cardiovascular events.

"Although these results fell short of the effect size that we predicted, they nevertheless provide a signal that offers support for the benefit of genetically guided therapy, with approximately one third fewer adverse events in the patients who received genetically guided treatment compared with those who did not," says Dr. Pereira.

A post-hoc analysis of the trial also showed a nearly 80% reduction in the rate of adverse events in the first three months of treatment among patients who received genetically guided therapy compared with those who did not.

Since the study's design in 2012, the standard of care following PCIs has greatly improved. Drug-coated stents and other treatments have reduced the rate of adverse events for patients in a year, but at the same time made it more difficult for the trial to reach its goal.

The trial is currently undergoing an extended follow-up beyond the original 12-month period.

A research team from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) led by chemist Johannes Lercher has developed a synthesis process which drastically increases the activity of catalysts for the desulfurization of crude oil. The new process could perhaps also be used for catalysts in fuel cells.

Crude oil contains a great deal of sulfur. To turn the crude oil into fuel, the sulfur compounds must be removed using hydrogen. Experts call this process hydrotreating. The process is carried out using catalysts.

Under the leadership of Prof. Johannes Lercher and Dr Hui Shi, a team of researchers at the Professorship of Chemical Technology at the Technical University of Munich have now developed a process to increase the activity of these catalysts many times over by treating the catalytically active metal sulfides with concentrated hydrochloric acid beforehand.

Important for the environment

Hydrotreating is one of the most important catalytic processes - both with regard to the quantity of catalyst used and the quantity of processed raw material. With highly pressurized hydrogen, impurities such as sulfur or nitrogen compounds are removed from the crude oil as completely as possible.

"These kinds of impurities would later combust to form sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, which would result in negative effects on the environment especially the air quality," says Manuel Wagenhofer, first author of the study. In addition, sulfur and nitrogen compounds would also damage precious metals in catalytic converters in modern vehicles, and drastically reduce their effectiveness.

An amazing effect of hydrochloric acid

The TUM chemists examined such mixed metal sulfide catalysts for their effectiveness in hydrotreating by first synthesizing nickel molybdenum sulfides over several process stages, and then treating them with acid.

"It was amazing how much adding concentrated hydrochloric acid increased the catalytic performance," says Wagenhofer. "Hydrochloric acid improves the accessibility of active centers in the catalysts by removing less active components, mainly nickel sulfides. Purer, and therefore more active, mixed metal sulfides are formed."

Great advantages for fundamental research

The TUM chemists' results are also very important for fundamental research. The purified mixed metal sulfides are also easier to examine, scientifically.

"For example, we were able to identify and quantify active centers on the catalysts that were treated in this way," explains Lercher. "This was only possible because the surface was no longer covered in nickel sulfide."

In principle, the acid treatment could apparently be used as an investigation instrument for a series of similar catalysts, to optimize these, for example, for use with oils from renewable raw materials which are to be transformed into climate-friendly fuels in the future via a refining process.

"If we understand mixed metal sulfide catalysts better, we can perhaps improve them considerably for use in other important fields of the future, such as water electrolysis or hydrogen fuel cells," says Johannes Lercher.

Tsukuba, Japan - Researchers at the University of Tsukuba have developed a new kind of color-shifting crystalline material that can be used to indicate the presence of water. The change in hue is dramatic enough to be gauged by the unaided human eye. This work could lead to the creation of highly sensitive "vapochromic" sensors that can show if a particular gas or water vapor is present without the need for external power.

Chemical sensors are important to many industrial processes. To ensure safety and efficiency, factories often need to be monitored for potentially toxic gasses or even excess humidity. Sensors for water vapor are particularly important, but may have limited lifetimes or require external power. To address this, scientists at the University of Tsukuba have invented a new crystalline material that changes color when exposed to water vapor. Inside the crystal, long branching molecules called dendrimers are held together by van der Waals forces.

"The aromatic carbazole dendrimers containing carbon rings are anchored to a dibenzophenazine core," explains senior author Professor Yohei Yamamoto. "Interestingly, even though van der Waals forces are usually considered to be relatively weak, the crystal stays together during operation."

The research team also extensively characterized the new material. In addition to studying the color in both the hydrated and dehydrated states using spectroscopy, the scientists used techniques including single-crystal and powder X-ray diffraction analysis, as well as thermogravimetric analysis. On the basis of the experimental results and theoretical density functional theory calculations, they were able to determine the molecular mechanism responsible for the different appearances under different water concentrations. The color-shifting properties of the crystal come from conformation changes in the dendrimers. Upon exposure to water vapor, the planes of the outermost carbazole units in the crystal twist simultaneously. This motion changes the energies of the electronic orbitals, which causes the electrons to absorb different colors of light.

"We believe that our findings will lead to the further exploration of van der Waals porous crystals, much like metal-organic frameworks that have found a place in chemistry," Professor Yamamoto says. "This work can lead to a new class of gas sensors that can work in difficult to reach locations, because they do not require external power."

Modern mechatronic devices, right from industrial machinery to robots, have seen a drastic increase in complexity and intricacy. With sophisticated functionalities being unlocked with each passing day, there has been an inevitable rise in the number of components that the devices need. And although these advancements are undeniably impressive, the sheer bulkiness and large number of components are a major hindrance to the "miniaturization" and cost-effectiveness of these devices.

But what if, instead of using multiple bulky components, we find a smarter way to build them? This is what scientists, including Prof Shingo Maeda, Dr Zebing Mao (Smart Materials Laboratory, Shibaura Institute of Technology) and Dr. Vito Caccuciolo (Soft Transducers Laboratory, Institute of Microengineering, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne), have worked on, in a recent study published in Scientific Reports. The scientists explored the possibility of various components of an electromechanical device--like the power supply, actuators, and control system--being reduced to a single piece of hydrogel. In doing this, they succeeded in creating a self-actuated microfluidic pump driven only by an oscillatory chemical reaction, which successfully produced "pressurized oil" (representing mechanical work). Prof Maeda, who led the study, says, "We propose a novel method to realize a simple pumping function using a single-component self-oscillating hydrogel and a membrane."

In their study, the scientists focused on a unique type of oscillatory chemical reaction that belongs to the "Belousov-Zhabotinsky" (BZ) class of reactions. Conventionally, a chemical reaction involves a reactant that gives rise to a product to reach a state of equilibrium. But, BZ reactions, which involve bromine and an oxidizing agent, produce a system that never reaches chemical equilibrium; instead, it goes back and forth between various states. Previously, researchers had observed that hydrogels and other polymers housing a BZ reaction (termed "BZ gels") were capable of autonomous motion because the reaction caused slight and periodic structural changes, thus showing a lot of potential in mechatronic applications. But, their practical use has been challenging until now. Prof Maeda explains, "Previously reported BZ gels showed very small displacement and were only tested while submerged inside chemical baths, which clearly limits their potential applications."

In this new study, the scientists overcame this hurdle using a new approach, which is much more promising thanks to an innovative implementation. Prof Maeda explains their methodology, "First, we produce BZ gels and pre-stretch them, which increases the mechanical work that can be extracted at each BZ cycle. Then, the whole gel and its surrounding chemical solution are completely encapsulated. Finally, the mechanical work produced by the swelling and contraction of the gel is transferred to an external oil through the deformation of a stretchable membrane." The result of this is a self-actuating pump solely driven by the oscillating reaction that can move fluids back and forth like an artificial "heart" for machines and produce mechanical work in the form of pressurized oil. The scientists tested the approach both virtually and experimentally, showing that the proposed concept holds potential.

This study sheds light on the fundamental physical mechanisms of BZ gels and indicates a way to improve their mechanical performance. It is an important step toward bridging the technological gap that exists for converting oscillating chemical energy into mechanical energy to power useful devices. Some noteworthy examples of feasible long-term applications of pumps made using BZ gels are in the field of microfluidics, including drug delivery systems, DNA microarrays for biomedical research, and many other biotechnological and nanotechnological tools. The self-actuating pump proposed by the scientists could act as a single-component power source in microfluidic systems, thereby simplifying their design, reducing their cost, and broadening their applicability.

The research team is optimistic about taking their work to the next level in the future, which will involve the optimization of their design through chemical and mechanical methods. This will be key for bringing forth a paradigm shift in the design of electromechanical devices by taking on a more bio-inspired turn. In this regard, Prof Maeda concludes, "Self-actuating pumps bode to break the wall of complexity faced by certain robotic systems with an increasing number of functions, enabling the development of truly smart multi-functional machines."

New light has been shed on a mysterious and long-standing conundrum at the very heart of our galaxy. The new work offers a potential solution to the so-called 'Galactic bar paradox', whereby different observations produce contradictory estimates of the motion of the central regions of the Milky Way. The results are published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

The majority of spiral galaxies, like our home the Milky Way, host a large bar-like structure of stars in their centre. Knowledge of the true bar size and rotational speed is crucial for understanding how galaxies form and evolve, as well as how they form similar bars throughout the Universe.

However our galaxy's bar size and rotational speed have been strongly contested in the last 5 years; while studies of the motions of stars near the Sun find a bar that is both fast and small, direct observations of the Galactic central region agree on one that is significantly slower and larger.

The new study, by an international team of scientists led by Tariq Hilmi of the University of Surrey and Ivan Minchev of the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP), suggests an insightful solution to this discrepancy. Analysing state-of-the-art galaxy formation simulations of the Milky Way, they show that both the bar's size and its rotational speed fluctuate rapidly in time, causing the bar to appear up to twice as long and rotate 20 percent faster at certain times.

The bar pulsations result from its regular encounters with the Galactic spiral arms, in what can be described as a "cosmic dance". As the bar and spiral arm approach each other, their mutual attraction due to gravity makes the bar slow down and the spiral speed up. Once connected, the two structures move as one and the bar appears much longer and slower than it actually is. As the dancers split apart, the bar speeds up while the spiral slows back down.

"The controversy about the Galactic bar can then be simply resolved if we happen to be living at a time when the bar and spiral are connected, giving the illusion of a large and slow bar," comments Dr Minchev. "However the motion of the stars near the Sun remains governed by the bar's true, much smaller nature, and so those observations appear contradictory."

Recent observations have confirmed that the inner Milky Way spiral arm is currently connected to the bar, which happens about once every 80 million years according to the simulations. Data from the forthcoming 3rd data release of the Gaia mission will be able to test this model further, and future missions will discover if the dance goes on in other galaxies across the Universe.

You might have heard the old proverb, "It takes a village to raise a child."

University of Cincinnati instructor Syn Yeo, PhD, thinks the same analogy applies when it comes to cells and the growth of cancer, particularly breast cancer.

In his recent study, published in the journal eLife, Yeo, research instructor in the department of cancer biology at the UC College of Medicine and co-lead author, says it can take cells in different forms or "life stages" to cause cancer to grow and spread.

"Our recent findings emphasize the need to account for the specific cell states that are present within a tumor," says Yeo, who is a member in the lab of Jun-Lin Guan, PhD, the Francis Brunning Endowed Chair and professor of cancer biology. "This could potentially help determine the combination of drugs that are required to eliminate all the cell states that are present to eliminate treatment resistance."

Yeo says that when it comes to breast cancers, it is known that cells within a tumor are varied.

"This diversity poses a problem to treating patients because particular subsets of tumor cells may be drug resistant and eventually lead to disease recurrence," he says. "One of the factors contributing to this diversity is the fact that tumor cells can exist in different cellular states, ranging from more stem-like cells that can become other cell types to more differentiated cells that have been coded to serve a purpose, or do a certain 'job' within the system.

"Cancer cells with stem-like properties are known to cause drug resistance, and they are generally seen as being at the top of the tumor hierarchy, like the kKing or queen of the village, with more differentiated tumor cells towards the bottom of the hierarchy, like the common townspeople."

In this study, researchers used breast cancer animal models to determine tumor hierarchies beyond "ruler" and "common people" cells, Yeo says. They identified and categorized singular cells which helped them understand each, individual cell's purpose. Yeo adds that bulk tumor cell analysis would have masked the cellular details.

"We were able to find a complex spectrum of cell states between different tumor types that can range from stem-cells to the 'beginner cells' to more differentiated cells," he says. "In our village [scenario], these would be the governors and mayors, followed by the common townspeople. Furthermore, depending on the lineage of the tumor, some may show a spectrum of cell states that are higher up in the hierarchy and vice versa.

"These findings are important because they show we need to know more about how these specific cell states contribute to tumor growth so we can target them with combination drug therapies, potentially helping more people who may otherwise experience drug resistance."

Tsukuba, Japan - Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide, killing nearly 18 million people annually, which is approximately the entire population of the New York metropolitan area. Now, researchers at the University of Tsukuba have shown that men bearing any or all of the major risk factors - hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia - are more likely to have wives who suffer from the same diseases.

The World Health Organization lists ischemic heart disease and stroke as the number 1 and 2 killers; together they account for 85% of all cardiovascular-related deaths and have occupied top position for over three decades. Cardiovascular disease is both genetically and environmentally determined, with the latter exerting a greater influence. Hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia are among the major risk factors and, though modifiable by drug therapy and behavioral change, are unfortunately becoming increasingly common.

In Japan, where over 83% of deaths occur after the age of 70, alleviating these chronic diseases will ensure that life is as healthy as it is long. Westernization of the diet, specifically reduced salt, has resulted in a drop in the incidence of hypertension, but causes increased obesity, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia.

"Married couples share food preferences and meal patterns, lifestyle with regard to levels of activity, attitudes to physical exercise, and usage of cigarettes and alcohol," explains Professor Takehiro Sugiyama. "Concordant disease patterns within couples may refer to risks of chronic diseases that could be reduced by changing daily habits, rather than unmodifiable genetic risks."

The researchers conducted a cross-sectional study of 86,941 married couples over the age of 40, across Japan. Using logistic regression, they modeled husbands undergoing treatment for hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia as the exposure and their wives undergoing therapy for the same disease as the outcome. Features that could skew the results such as residence, education, age, habits, expenditure, and access to healthcare and health groups were also factored in to determine the degree of spousal concordance. Because spouses often influence personal habits, the researchers also evaluated models excluding the wife's smoking and alcohol history. The findings were clear: wives were significantly more likely to be receiving therapy for the same diseases as their husbands.

Professor Nanako Tamiya, senior author, highlights their inferences. "Our findings stress that healthcare professionals should target not only patients' blood-relatives, but also their spouses. Medical information should include the partner's data. In addition to optimizing individual therapy, family-based interventions are needed. Couples too need to appreciate their influence on each other's health patterns."