Culture

Your gut bacteria could say a lot about you, such as why you're diabetic or how you respond to certain drugs.

But scientists can see only so much of the gastrointestinal tract to study the role of gut bacteria in your health. What comes out of you is just a small sample of these bacteria, without indicating where they came from in the digestive system.

Purdue University researchers built a way to swallow a tool that acts like a colonoscopy, except that instead of looking at the colon with a camera, the technology takes samples of bacteria.

The technology could also move throughout the whole GI tract, not just the colon. This tract, in addition to the colon, includes the mouth, esophagus, stomach, pancreas, liver, gallbladder, small intestine and rectum.

Essentially, this tool would make it possible to conduct a "gut-oscopy." A video showing how it would work is on YouTube.

"It's all about being able to take samples of bacteria anywhere in the gut. That was impossible before," said Rahim Rahimi, a Purdue assistant professor of materials engineering.

The tool is a drug-like capsule that passively weasels through the gut without needing a battery. A pill version of a colonoscopy is already commercially available to view areas of the colon that a traditional colonoscopy can't see, but neither tool can sample bacteria.

"If a colonoscopy or camera pill sees blood, it can't sample that area to investigate further. You could just sample bacteria from a person's fecal matter, but bacteria can vary a lot throughout the GI tract. Our approach could be complementary," Rahimi said.

The bacteria-sampling capsule also would be a lot cheaper, each costing only about a dollar, he estimates.

Rahimi's team is working on testing this capsule in pigs, which have a similar GI tract to humans. An initial demonstration of the prototype is published in RSC Advances, a journal by the Royal Society of Chemistry.

The researchers 3D-printed the capsule out of resin, the same material used in dental molds and implants. This material would need to be slightly modified for humans to ingest, but is otherwise nontoxic, Rahimi said.

When exposed to the pH of a certain gut location, the capsule's biodegradable cap dissolves. Inside the capsule, a hydrogel similar to those used in diapers expands and collects intestinal fluid containing bacteria. Pressure closes shut the capsule's aperture when the sampling is complete, kind of like a plunger.

The researchers have tested the prototype capsule in a culture solution designed to simulate the gut bacterial flora of a GI tract. They also tested the capsule's ability to protect the sampled bacteria in different extreme environments. Their experiments so far show that the capsule could successfully sample bacteria common in the gut, such as E. coli, within an hour.

In a human, the capsule would continue to move throughout the GI tract with other fecal matter. A scientist could then recover the capsule from a study participant's fecal matter, unscrew the capsule, and study the collected bacteria.

"This approach is providing new opportunities to study what type of bacteria are present in the gut. It would help us figure out how to manipulate these bacteria to combat disease," Rahimi said.

A patent has been filed for this technology through the Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization. The work is funded by Eli Lilly and Company and Purdue's School of Materials Engineering. Rahimi's team is conducting this research at the Birck Nanotechnology Center in Purdue's Discovery Park.

Below please find a summary and link(s) of new coronavirus-related content published today in Annals of Internal Medicine. The summary below is not intended to substitute for the full article as a source of information. A collection of coronavirus-related content is free to the public at http://go.annals.org/coronavirus.

1. Obesity a significant risk factor for death from COVID-19 infection, especially in men

Researchers found a striking association between BMI and risk for death among patients with a diagnosis of COVID-19. The association was independent of obesity-related comorbities and other potential confounders. Their findings also suggest that high BMI was more strongly associated with COVID-19 mortality in younger adults and male patients, but not in female patients and older adults. A retrospective cohort study is published in Annals of Internal Medicine. Read the full text: https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M20-3742.

Researchers studied health records for more than 6,900 patients treated for COVID-19 in the Kaiser Permanete Southern California health care system from February to May 2020 to determine the association between obesity and death from COVID-19. The obesity risk was adjusted for common comorbidities, including diabetes, hypertension, heart failure, myocardial infarction, and chronic lung or renal disease, which themselves are risk factors for poor outcomes in COVID-19. The study also took into account when SARS-CoV-2 was detected. They found that patients in the highest weight group were 4 times as likely to die within 21 days of being diagnosed with COVID-19 as those in the normal weight group. Men and those younger than 60 years who had a high body weight were at particularly high risk for death. According to the researchers, identifying obesity as an independent risk factor is important so that patients with obesity can take extra precautions and health care providers and public health officials can consider this when providing care and making public health decisions.

The author of an accompanying editorial from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine suggests that these findings in addition to prior research should put to rest any notion that obesity is common in severe COVID-19 because it is common in the population. The research proves that obesity is an important independent risk factor for serious COVID-19 disease and that the risks are higher in younger patients. According to the author, this is probably not because obesity is particularly damaging in this age group; it is more likely that other serious comorbidities that evolve later in life take over as dominant risk factors. That males are particularly affected may reflect their greater visceral adiposity over females. Read the full text: https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M20-5677.

Two weeks ago, Colorado State Patrol troopers began clearing out nearly 200 residents from homeless encampments that surround the Colorado Capitol. The enforcement of city ordinances like camping bans, park curfews and obstructions of public passageways is lawful. But the increase in "tough love" and "quality of life" policing in cities around the U.S. undermine the sleeping patterns, physical safety, and mental health of people experiencing homelessness, according to a recent study from the University of Colorado Denver.

The study, done in collaboration with advocacy organization Denver Homeless Out Loud, was published in May in the Journal of Social Distress and Homelessness.

"These laws are enforced under the guise of 'tough love,' because municipalities want to push people into services," says Marisa Westbrook, doctoral student in health and behavioral sciences at CU Denver, who worked alongside Tony Robinson, PhD, associate professor of political science. "But we'd heard that this 'quality of life' policing is making sleeping on the street even more unhealthy, which is why we wanted to objectively document what those experiences looked like."

In surveys with 484 people experiencing homelessness across Denver, researchers found that 74% had been asked to "move along" by police. Forty-four percent had been ticketed or arrested after police contact for a 'quality of life' violation. These "move along" orders lead individuals to seek more hidden and isolated city locations to sleep--nearly a quarter sought out hidden river or creek beds, while another quarter chose to keep moving all night.

Without the well-lit areas of public parks or the security and resources of a group, reasons why people experiencing homelessness stay together, those who moved to avoid police contact were more than twice as likely to be physically assaulted and 39% more likely to be robbed than homeless persons who didn't move.

When police enforced camping or shelter bans, researchers found a 45% increase in the risk of weather-related health issues like frostbite, heatstroke, and dehydration.

Seventy percent report being woken often by police and 52% are constantly worried about police contact while sleeping. Those frequently woken by police sleep an average of two hours at a time and achieve less than four hours of sleep per night.

"You can imagine the impact on mental health," says Westbrook. "They're dealing with anxiety, stress, and depression, but staying in shelters is simply not an option for some people. During the pandemic, homeless shelters have had higher rates of coronavirus than outdoor encampments. Cities are clearing outside encampments, but there are not enough housing units or shelter resources for people to stay far enough apart at this time."

The situation will only get worse. Nearly 420,000 Coloradans risk evictions in the coming months, with the greatest increases beginning in August, according to the Bell Policy Center and COVID-19 Eviction Defense Project. In fact, with the eviction moratorium lifted and curbed unemployment benefits, almost 20 percent of the 110 million renters nationwide are looking at homelessness.

Across Colorado, there are only 26 affordable housing units available to every 100 very low-income households, according to National Low Income Housing Coalition. For Coloradans who make less than half of the median income, they've seen affordable housing choices decrease by 75% between 2010 and 2016--one of the steepest drops in the nation.

"A lot of folks are just hanging on month after month," says Westbrook. "They're hoping they won't be evicted or they're living out of their car. In 2019, Denver voters chose to maintain the camping ban, which is one of the cruelest things we could have done for the health and wellbeing of our community."

It took two years and $11 million, but eventually ranchers, politicians and scientists came to a consensus about how to prevent flooding in Tillamook, a coastal Oregon town. A recent study by Portland State University researchers examining the social factors involved in this decision-making process showcases how environmental justice can be served when affected parties have a seat at the table. The study was published in the journal Natural Hazards.

For this study, Melissa Haeffner, assistant professor of environmental science & management, and PhD candidate Dana Hellman interviewed people involved in the decision to see how they came up with a plan to stop flooding while balancing the needs of individual people and protection of both society at large and the environment.

Tillamook sits at the confluence of five rivers that merge as they run off into the ocean. Heavy rains in the coastal mountains cause these rivers to flood, especially at high tide when water is also pushing up from the ocean.

"All of that flood water has to go somewhere," says Haeffner.

With flooding becoming more frequent and more hazardous at a particular site in Tillamook, something had to be done.

"You can't stop flooding from happening, but you can try to get the water out so it's not standing and destroying buildings, Highway 101 and other infrastructure," says Haeffner. The goal was to come up with a flood mitigation strategy that was sustainable both for the environment and for the people living near the site.

However, in the past, federal agencies made decisions about flood mitigation without consulting local people, leaving ranchers from Tillamook dairy farms feeling disenfranchised.

"There was a strong opinion among locals that a lot of federal money was going into these large projects and the money was being wasted," says Haeffner.

To prevent a similar scenario, then-Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber brought in Oregon Solutions, a third-party mediation group based at PSU, to facilitate a collaborative decision-making process.

Haeffner found that in addition to instilling trust among the various stakeholder groups, a crucial part of the process was making sure that all parties understood the science underlying the flooding and the potential strategies for stopping the floods.

No matter what strategy was implemented, two landowners would have to lose some of their land for any flood mitigation strategy to work. This was a potential problem because these landowners were members of the Tillamook Dairy Co-op, which has a policy that prevents ranchers from giving up land. Thus, impacted ranchers had to convince others in the co-op that some land loss was necessary to stop the flooding.

"One of the ranchers that I talked to felt like he should have a PhD in hydrology right now because he had to get up, milk the cows, do his ranching and then, at the end of the day, he would study the plans," says Haeffner.

In fact, because the impacted ranchers understood the science so well, they were able to come up with their own flood mitigation proposal that participants eventually agreed upon.

"It ended up being called a land owners alternative, and they completely reversed the power dynamic from the top down," says Haeffner. The ranchers received compensation for their land, which became an ecologically restored salt marsh that helps prevent flooding.

"What I found most interesting was that most people thought it was a success," says Haeffner. "From my studies, all over the world, I've never seen that before."

The entire process took two years of deliberation, weekly or biweekly meetings between local residents, state agencies, and federal agencies as well as the involvement of the Governor.

According to Haeffner, this case study shows just how much time, effort, and even money it takes to undo decades of harm and distrust between groups.

"That the project cost over $11 million and took two years of intensive dialogue to get to a place where landowners regained some decision-making power -- procedural justice -- shows exactly what we are up against when we think about truly social sustainability," says Haeffner. "And if this is what it took to make transformative change in this community, just think of what we have to do to realize environmental justice and regain trust in our most vulnerable communities."

But the fact that transformational change was possible in this situation is equally important. "This case study also offers a ray of hope -- that it can be done," says Haeffner.

HOUSTON-(Aug. 12, 2020) - A preliminary analysis of an ongoing study of more than 300 COVID-19 patients treated with convalescent plasma therapy at Houston Methodist suggests the treatment is safe and effective. The results, which appear now in The American Journal of Pathology, represents one of the first peer-reviewed publications in the country assessing efficacy of convalescent plasma.

From March 28, when Houston Methodist became the first academic medical center in the nation to infuse critically ill COVID-19 patients with plasma donated from recovered patients, research physicians have used the treatment on 350 patients. The study tracked severely ill COVID-19 patients admitted to Houston Methodist's system of eight hospitals from March 28 through July 6.

These latest results from Houston Methodist that now measured medical effectiveness offer valuable scientific evidence that transfusing critically ill COVID-19 patients with high antibody plasma early in their illness - within 72 hours after hospitalization proving most effective - reduced the mortality rate.

The study, titled "Treatment of COVID-19 Patients with Convalescent Plasma Reveals a Signal of Significantly Decreased Mortality," was led by principal investigator Eric Salazar, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of Pathology and Genomic Medicine with the Houston Methodist Hospital and Research Institute and corresponding author James M. Musser, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the Department of Pathology and Genomic Medicine at Houston Methodist.

"Our studies to date show the treatment is safe and, in a promising number of patients, effective," Musser said. "While convalescent plasma therapy remains experimental and we have more research to do and data to collect, we now have more evidence than ever that this century-old plasma therapy has merit, is safe and can help reduce the death rate from this virus."

The research team found that those treated early in their illness with donated plasma that has the highest concentration of anti-COVID-19 antibodies are more likely to survive and recover than similar patients who were not treated with convalescent plasma. Patients with a history of severe reactions to blood transfusions, those with underlying uncompensated and untreatable end-stage disease and patients with fluid overload or other conditions that would increase the risk of plasma transfusion were excluded.

The patients were tracked for 28 days after plasma transfusion and compared to a control group of similar COVID-19 patients who did not receive convalescent plasma. An observational propensity score-matched analysis was used to balance the characteristics of participants and allow for an objective interpretation of the results at this stage.

Several studies have measured safety, showing that the more than 34,000 COVID-19 patients in the U.S. who have received plasma transfusions for COVID-19 experienced minimal adverse effects.

There is no question that motivation is one of the hardest and yet important factors in life. It's the difference between success and failure, goal-setting and aimlessness, well-being and unhappiness. And yet, why is it so hard to get motivated - or even if we do, to keep it up?

That is the question that scientists led by Professor Carmen Sandi at EPFL and Dr Gedi Luksys at the University of Edinburgh have sought to answer. The researchers worked off previous knowledge that told them two things: First, that people differ a lot in their capacity to engage in motivated behavior and that motivational problems like apathy are common in neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders. Second, to target an area of the brain called the "nucleus accumbens".

Sitting close to the bottom of brain, the nucleus accumbens has been the subject of a lot of research. The reason is that it was quickly found to be a major player in functions like aversion, reward, reinforcement, and motivation.

To test and quantify motivation, the EPFL team designed what is known as a "monetary incentive force task". The idea is that participants perform a task with increasing - and measurable - effort and get paid sums of money that correspond to their effort. Basically, do more and get paid more.

In this study, 43 men were scanned to measure-metabolites in the nucleus accumbens in their brains with a sophisticated brain-imaging technique called "proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy", or 1H-MRS. This can specifically measure the abundance of neurochemicals in the brain, such as neurotransmitters and metabolites. Because of this 1H-MRS is used even in clinical settings to determine neurological disorders.

Subsequently, each participant was asked to squeeze a device that measures force - a dynamometer to a given level of contraction in order to earn either 0.2, 0.5, or 1 Swiss franc. This procedure was repeated for a number of 120 consecutive trials, which made performance in the task quite demanding.

The idea of the experiment was that the different sums would push participants to decide if they were going to invest energy and perform the task accordingly at each trial. The scientists also ran the experiment under isolation and group conditions to investigate the influence of competition on performance.

Once they had gathered the behavioral data, the researchers processed it through a computational model that estimated the most appropriate parameters that should be measured with regard to utility, effort, and performance functions. This allowed them to interrogate whether particular neurotransmitter levels predicted specific motivational functions.

The analysis revealed that the key to performance - and, by extension, motivation - lies within the ratio of two neurotransmitters in the nucleus accumbens: glutamine and glutamate. Specifically, the ratio of glutamine to glutamate relates to our capacity for maintaining performance over a long period of time - what the researchers term "stamina".

Another discovery was that competition seems to boost performance even from the beginning of the task. This was especially the case for individuals with low glutamine-to-glutamate ratios in the nucleus accumbens.

"The findings provide novel insights in the field of motivation neuroscience," says Carmen Sandi. "They show that the balance between glutamine and glutamate can help predict specific, computational components of motivated performance. Our approach and data can also help us develop therapeutic strategies, including nutritional interventions, that address deficits in effort engagement by targeting metabolism."

Stimulating the nervous system using small electric current by acupuncture could tamp down systemic inflammation in the body, suggests new research in mice from a team of neuroscientists in the U.S. and China. The research, publishing August 12 in the journal Neuron, helps to map the neuroanatomical underpinnings of this ancient medical practice.

"Most Western medicine has been focusing on blocking the neural pathways of pain to relieve the symptoms, but there are so many pain pathways and so many ways to open each of them," says senior author Qiufu Ma, a researcher at Harvard Medical School who has been studying the neuroanatomic basis of pain for years. Inspired by the core ideology of traditional Chinese medicine, which is to treat a disease by addressing the root cause, Ma and his team aim to target inflammation, a common source of human diseases and pain.

Previous studies have shown direct vagal nerve stimulations in the neck region can help reduce inflammation, but these experimental approaches require invasive procedures. With this in mind, Ma and his team set out to investigate whether and how electric stimulation using acupuncture, which only involves inserting thin needles through the skin, can modulate inflammation.

The team began by giving mice a 15-minute electroacupuncture at 3 mA at a specific site on the abdomen. This acupoint, dubbed ST25, has been associated with nerves of the spleen, which is a major organ involved in immune responses.

The team then simulated a life-threatening inflammatory condition that is often seen in patients suffering severe bacterial or virus infections by injecting mice with a compound called lipopolysaccharide (LPS). After injecting the treated mice with LPS, researchers found the serum levels of pro-inflammatory molecules in these animals was significantly lower than that of the control group. The mice's survival rates also more than doubled. However, when the team gave mice the electroacupuncture after the LPS shot, the treated mice had much greater inflammation than those that were untreated and did not survive.

By comparing the effect of electroacupuncture in mice with an altered nervous system, the team determined that high intensity stimulation at the abdomen could excite norepinephrine-producing nerves that connect the spine and spleen. The norepinephrine then activated a particular type of receptors in the spleen that suppressed pro-inflammatory molecules. But when LPS was introduced first, another type of splenic receptors--pro-inflammatory in this case--became highly expressed, and the subsequent electroacupuncture therapy further enhanced inflammation.

"We were really surprised to find that the same input has completely opposite outcomes in different disease stages," Ma says. "But a lot of the time, a patient would only come to us if they already have the disease. So we wanted to find out if there is a way to reduce inflammation as a treatment."

The team then conducted electroacupuncture at a different acupoint, this time on mice's hindlegs. They found stimulation at a low intensity of 0.5 mA for 15 minutes could significantly reduce pro-inflammatory molecule levels either before or after LPS-injection. Mice's survival rate after electroacupuncture also increased by 1-fold or more. A genetically modified mice model suggests that low-level electroacupuncture at hindlegs reduced inflammation not though the spleen, but a different neural pathway involving the vagus nerves and the adrenal glands.

"Our study illustrated that electroacupuncture has neuroanatomic basis, but its efficacy and safety on humans need to be validated in clinical trials," Ma says. "There's still many questions unanswered about this medical practice and thus a lot of room to do more research."

(PROVO, Utah -- 10 Aug. 2020) To date, Congress has authorized roughly $3 trillion in COVID-19 relief assistance -- the largest relief package in history. With more COVID relief money on the way, a new study led by two Brigham Young University business professors finds these newly available funds led to a significant surge in health sector lobbying activity, especially within the pharmaceutical industry.

The research, publishing Wednesday, Aug. 12, in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, finds the lobbying expenditures ($248.4 million) and new lobbyist registrations (357) of the health sector represented nearly a fourth of all lobbying activity, across all industries, in the first quarter of 2020.

"This is like sharks to blood, or bees to honey, if you prefer a milder metaphor," said study author Bill Tayler, an accounting professor in the BYU Marriott School of Business. "Congress is giving out a lot of money, so the lobbyists are swarming. Lobbying activity levels are typically fairly stable, so when you see jumps like this, it's a big deal."

According to the analysis, health sector lobbying spending increased more than 10% in Q1 of 2020 while non-health sector increased only 1%. Meanwhile, the number of new lobbyists registered in the health sector increased a staggering 140% while non-health sector registrations increased only 63%.

The BYU researchers, in collaboration with colleagues from Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University and the University of Cincinnati, found that across all segments of health sector lobbying, the biggest lobbying increases came from the pharmaceutical industry. Indeed, 16 of the top 30 healthcare organizations in lobbyist expenditures were pharmaceuticals.

For example, Novartis International increased their lobbying expenditures by 259% this year, AbbVie Inc. increased theirs by 155% and Biogen Inc. increased their expenditures by a whopping 344%. The organization with the highest lobbying expenditures by far was Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), a non-profit trade association largely sponsored by pharmaceutical companies, spending $11.5 million in the first quarter of 2020.

"This is the largest stimulus bill in history," said study coauthor John Barrick, a fellow accounting professor at BYU and expert on lobbying policy. "It's important to follow the money. Dollars spent on lobbying influence the allocation of funds and, right or wrong, I think that's what people need to know."

The data shows Big Pharma has had a very loud voice as Congress has tried to allocate funds to small businesses, the unemployed, healthcare and more.

Overall, the top 30 healthcare organizations (16 of which were pharmaceutical organizations) spent almost $100 million on lobbying in Q1 of 2020, which represented a 55% increase in lobbying spending over Q4 of 2019. The authors said the results of the study illustrate just how much the health sector and others are willing to invest to influence Congress' appropriation and allocation of funds.

"The return on investment on a dollar of lobbying appears much higher than a dollar of R&D," said study coauthor Shivaram Rajgopal, a professor of accounting and auditing at Columbia Business School. Added senior author Ge Bai: "The health sector's investment in lobbying has apparently generated handsome returns."

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), in which the European Southern Observatory (ESO) is a partner, have revealed an extremely distant and therefore very young galaxy that looks surprisingly like our Milky Way. The galaxy is so far away its light has taken more than 12 billion years to reach us: we see it as it was when the Universe was just 1.4 billion years old. It is also surprisingly unchaotic, contradicting theories that all galaxies in the early Universe were turbulent and unstable. This unexpected discovery challenges our understanding of how galaxies form, giving new insights into the past of our Universe.

"This result represents a breakthrough in the field of galaxy formation, showing that the structures that we observe in nearby spiral galaxies and in our Milky Way were already in place 12 billion years ago," says Francesca Rizzo, PhD student from the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Germany, who led the research published today in Nature. While the galaxy the astronomers studied, called SPT0418-47, doesn't appear to have spiral arms, it has at least two features typical of our Milky Way: a rotating disc and a bulge, the large group of stars packed tightly around the galactic centre. This is the first time a bulge has been seen this early in the history of the Universe, making SPT0418-47 the most distant Milky Way look-alike.

"The big surprise was to find that this galaxy is actually quite similar to nearby galaxies, contrary to all expectations from the models and previous, less detailed, observations," says co-author Filippo Fraternali, from the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen in the Netherlands. In the early Universe, young galaxies were still in the process of forming, so researchers expected them to be chaotic and lacking the distinct structures typical of more mature galaxies like the Milky Way.

Studying distant galaxies like SPT0418-47 is fundamental to our understanding of how galaxies formed and evolved. This galaxy is so far away we see it when the Universe was just 10% of its current age because its light took 12 billion years to reach Earth. By studying it, we are going back to a time when these baby galaxies were just beginning to develop.

Because these galaxies are so far away, detailed observations with even the most powerful telescopes are almost impossible as the galaxies appear small and faint. The team overcame this obstacle by using a nearby galaxy as a powerful magnifying glass -- an effect known as gravitational lensing -- allowing ALMA to see into the distant past in unprecedented detail. In this effect, the gravitational pull from the nearby galaxy distorts and bends the light from the distant galaxy, causing it to appear misshapen and magnified.

The gravitationally lensed, distant galaxy appears as a near-perfect ring of light around the nearby galaxy, thanks to their almost exact alignment. The research team reconstructed the distant galaxy's true shape and the motion of its gas from the ALMA data using a new computer modelling technique. "When I first saw the reconstructed image
of SPT0418-47 I could not believe it: a treasure chest was opening," says Rizzo.

"What we found was quite puzzling; despite forming stars at a high rate, and therefore being the site of highly energetic processes, SPT0418-47 is the most well-ordered galaxy disc ever observed in the early Universe," stated co-author Simona Vegetti, also from the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics. "This result is quite unexpected and has important implications for how we think galaxies evolve." The astronomers note, however, that even though SPT0418-47 has a disc and other features similar to those of spiral galaxies we see today, they expect it to evolve into a galaxy very different from the Milky Way, and join the class of elliptical galaxies, another type of galaxies that, alongside the spirals, inhabit the Universe today.

This unexpected discovery suggests the early Universe may not be as chaotic as once believed and raises many questions on how a well-ordered galaxy could have formed so soon after the Big Bang. This ALMA finding follows the earlier discovery announced in May
of a massive rotating disc seen at a similar distance. SPT0418-47 is seen in finer detail, thanks to the lensing effect, and has a bulge in addition to a disc, making it even more similar to our present-day Milky Way than the one studied previously.

Future studies, including with ESO's Extremely Large Telescope, will seek to uncover how typical these 'baby' disc galaxies really are and whether they are commonly less chaotic than predicted, opening up new avenues for astronomers to discover how galaxies evolved.

Radiocarbon dating is set to become more accurate than ever after an international team of scientists improved the technique for assessing the age of historical objects.

The team of researchers at the Universities of Sheffield, Belfast, Bristol, Glasgow, Oxford, St Andrews and Historic England, plus international colleagues, used measurements from almost 15,000 samples from objects dating back as far as 60,000 years ago, as part of a seven-year project.

They used the measurements to create new international radiocarbon calibration (IntCal) curves, which are fundamental across the scientific spectrum for accurately dating artefacts and making predictions about the future. Radiocarbon dating is vital to fields such as archaeology and geoscience to date everything from the oldest modern human bones to historic climate patterns.

Archaeologists can use that knowledge to restore historic monuments or study the demise of the Neanderthals, while geoscientists on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), rely upon the curves to find out about what the climate was like in the past to better understand and prepare for future changes.

Professor Paula Reimer, from Queen's University Belfast and head of the IntCal project, said: "Radiocarbon dating has revolutionised the field of archaeology and environmental science. As we improve the calibration curve, we learn more about our history. The IntCal calibration curves are key to helping answer big questions about the environment and our place within it."

The team of researchers have developed three curves dependent upon where the object to be dated is found. The new curves, to be published in Radiocarbon, are IntCal20 for the Northern Hemisphere, SHCal20 for the Southern Hemisphere, and Marine20 for the world's oceans.

Dr Tim Heaton, from the University of Sheffield and lead author on the Marine20 curve, said: "This is a very exciting time to be working in radiocarbon. Developments in the field have made it possible to truly advance our understanding. I look forward to seeing what new insights into our past these recalculated radiocarbon timescales provide."

The previous radiocarbon calibration curves developed over the past 50 years, were heavily reliant upon measurements taken from chunks of wood covering 10 to 20 years big enough to be tested for radiocarbon.

Advances in radiocarbon testing mean the updated curves instead use tiny samples, such as tree-rings covering just single years, that provide previously impossible precision and detail in the new calibration curves. Additionally, improvements in understanding of the carbon cycle have meant the curves have now been extended all the way to the limit of the radiocarbon technique 55,000 years ago.

Radiocarbon dating is the most frequently used approach for dating the last 55,000 years and underpins archaeological and environmental science. It was first developed in 1949. It depends upon two isotopes of carbon called stable 12C and radioactive 14C.

While a plant or animal is alive it takes in new carbon, so has the same ratio of these isotopes as the atmosphere at the time. But once an organism dies it stops taking in new carbon, the stable 12C remains but the 14C decays at a known rate. By measuring the ratio of 14C to 12C left in an object the date of its death can be estimated.

If the level of atmospheric 14C were constant, this would be easy. However, it has fluctuated significantly throughout history. In order to date organisms precisely scientists need a reliable historical record of its variation to accurately transform 14C measurements into calendar ages. The new IntCal curves provide this link.

The curves are created based on collecting a huge number of archives which store past radiocarbon but can also be dated using another method. Such archives include tree-rings from up to 14,000 years ago, stalagmites found in caves, corals from the sea and cores drilled from lake and ocean sediments. In total, the new curves were based upon almost 15,000 measurements of radiocarbon taken from objects as old as 60,000 years.

Alex Bayliss, Head of Scientific Dating at Historic England, said: "Accurate and high-precision radiocarbon dating underpins the public's enjoyment of the historic environment and enables better preservation and protection.

"The new curves have internationally important implications for archaeological methodology, and for practices in conservation and understanding of wooden built heritage."

Darrell Kaufman of the IPCC said: "The IntCal series of curves are critical for providing a perspective on past climate which is essential for our understanding of the climate system, and a baseline for modelling future changes."

Yoga improves symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder, a condition with chronic nervousness and worry, suggesting the popular practice may be helpful in treating anxiety in some people.

Led by researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, a new study found that yoga was significantly more effective for generalized anxiety disorder than standard education on stress management, but not effective as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), the gold standard form of structured talk therapy that helps patients identify negative thinking for better responses to challenges.

"Generalized anxiety disorder is a very common condition, yet many are not willing or able to access evidence-based treatments," says lead study author Naomi M. Simon, MD, a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at NYU Langone Health. "Our findings demonstrate that yoga, which is safe and widely available, can improve symptoms for some people with this disorder and could be a valuable tool in an overall treatment plan."

For the study, publishing online Aug. 12 in JAMA Psychiatry, 226 men and women with generalized anxiety disorder were randomly assigned to three groups - either CBT, Kundalini yoga, or stress-management education, a standardized control technique.

After three months, both CBT and yoga were found to be significantly more effective for anxiety than stress management. Specifically, 54 percent of those who practiced yoga met response criteria for meaningfully improved symptoms compared to 33 percent in the stress-education group. Of those treated with CBT, 71 percent met these symptom improvement criteria.

However, after six months of follow-up, the CBT response remained significantly better than stress education (the control therapy), while yoga was no longer significantly better, suggesting CBT may have more robust, longer-lasting anxiety-reducing effects.

Study Details

The study involved an evidence-based protocol for CBT treatment of generalized anxiety disorder, including psychoeducation, cognitive interventions (focused on identifying and adapting maladaptive thoughts and worrying), and muscle relaxation techniques.

Kundalini yoga included physical postures, breathing techniques, relaxation exercises, yoga theory, and meditation/mindfulness practice.

The stress-management education control group received lectures about the physiological, psychological and medical effects of stress, as well as the antianxiety effects of lifestyle behaviors, such as reducing alcohol and smoking, and the importance of exercise and a healthy diet. Homework consisted of listening to educational material about stress, nutrition, and lifestyle.

Each treatment was administered in groups of three to six participants, over weekly two-hour sessions for 12 weeks with 20 minutes of daily homework assigned.

Can Yoga Help Treat Anxiety?

According to researchers, generalized anxiety disorder is a common, impairing, and undertreated condition, currently affecting an estimated 6.8 million Americans. While most people feel anxious from time to time, it is considered a disorder when worrying becomes excessive and interferes with day-to-day life. CBT is considered the gold standard first-line treatment. Medications, including antidepressants and sometimes benzodiazepines, may also be used. Yet, not everyone is willing to take medication which can have adverse side effects and there are challenges with accessing CBT for many, including lack of access to trained therapists and long waitlists.

"Many people already seek complementary and alternative interventions, including yoga, to treat anxiety," says Dr. Simon. "This study suggests that at least short-term there is significant value for people with generalized anxiety disorder to give yoga a try to see if it works for them. Yoga is well-tolerated, easily accessible, and has a number of health benefits."

According to Dr. Simon, future research should aim to understand who is most likely to benefit from yoga for generalized anxiety disorder to help providers better personalize treatment recommendations.

"We need more options to treat anxiety because different people will respond to different interventions, and having more options can help overcome barriers to care," she says. "Having a range of effective treatments can increase the likelihood people with anxiety will be willing to engage in evidence-based care."

What The Article Says: This essay describes the author's experience of having COVID-19.

Authors: Janet M. Shapiro, M.D., of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, is the author.

To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/

(doi:10.1001/jamacardio.2020.3247)

Editor's Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support.

What The Study Did: Survival of patients on the heart transplant waiting list was examined in this observational study.

Authors: Elizabeth L. Godfrey, B.S., of the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, is the corresponding author.

To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/

(doi:10.1001/jamacardio.2020.2795)

Editor's Note: The article includes conflict of interest disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support.

What The Study Did: Researchers in this randomized clinical trial assessed whether Kundalini yoga and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for generalized anxiety disorder are each more effective than stress education and whether yoga is noninferior to CBT for the treatment of the disorder.

Authors: Naomi M. Simon, M.D., M.Sc., of the New York University Grossman School of Medicine in New York, is the corresponding author.

To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/

(doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2020.2496)

Editor's Note: The article includes conflict of interest and funding/support disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support.

A novel strategy has been developed by Novateur Ventures, which provides new hope in battle against COVID-19. The study titled 'A Novel Strategy to Mitigate the Hyperinflammatory Response to COVID-19 by Targeting Leukotrienes' was published in Frontiers in Pharmacology, a leading peer-reviewed journal.

The strategy co-authored by Ali Ardakani, Founder & Managing Director at Novateur Ventures, and Dr. Colin D. Funk (Queen's University, Kingston) analyzes lipid mediators, known as leukotrienes, as the cause for hyperinflammatory response manifested in severe COVID-19 cases. Patients with severe COVID-19 develop an overwhelming state of inflammation with multi-organ dysfunction and leukotrienes have been overlooked.

"Globally the race to develop new therapeutics or repurpose existing drugs to cultivate an effective therapeutic treatment for COVID- 19 is urgent. At Novateur, our research has been well underway since the first cases were discovered," says Ardakani. "I am very pleased today to announce a strategy we believe can potentially impact COVID-19 patients in a safe and effective manner."

Since Novateur began their in-depth studies, only two treatments (remdesivir, dexamethasone) have demonstrated modest ability to reduce disease progression and severity; however, there is still a high unmet need for additional improvement. Leukotrienes have some of the most potent impacts on immune cell trafficking and vascular leakage in biological systems, two important steps that take place in COVID-19. Novateur's research proposes a simple treatment paradigm using two generic drugs, normally directed to blocking inflammation in airways of patients with asthma, to target the hyper-inflammatory response insevere COVID-19.This will be accomplished by a combination of a leukotriene biosynthesis blocker zileuton (Zyflo® controlled release formulation) and an inhibitor of the cysteinyl leukotriene 1 receptor montelukast (Singulair®). Both these agents, now generic, have been on the market for many years, and their activity and side effects in humans are well known.

In COVID-19, providing zileuton/montelukast combination prior to out-of-control host inflammatory cell recruitment to the lungs and before pulmonary edema sets in is paramount. Initiation of treatment with zileuton/montelukast should take place early on, shortly after a positive test is confirmed and before major symptoms arise. Currently it remains very difficult to predict which patients will progress to severe COVID-19 disease. The standard of care is basically symptomatic control (i.e. acetaminophen for fever and muscle pain) and observation. The proposed zileuton/montelukast combination could readily be added in this setting, with the goal to switch off the hyper-inflammatory response. The incentive to move forward quickly is vital to combat COVID-19 while waiting for a preventative vaccine or other treatments.

"Our journey studying COVID-19 and potential therapeutics is still at an early stage. We hope that our proposed treatment plan can effectively stop COVID-19 from becoming a life-threatening disorder," says Funk, a key leader in the leukotriene field. "Novateur will continue to concentrate its efforts on this global pandemic that has claimed the lives of so many. It is important to recognize the sharing of critical data and the very collaborative approach this fight has taken. We are working diligently with unprecedented speed to move a clinical trial forward as quickly as possible in the USA where cases of COVID-19 are high."