Culture

A research team of the University of Malaga (UMA) in the area of Medicine and Psychology has analyzed for the first time the effect of the type of delivery on twins' psychological development and intelligence, demonstrating that cesarean section carries an independent risk in these multiple births.

"Twins are very vulnerable, since their birth frequently ends prematurely and they often present pregnancy and labor complications", says Professor of Gynecology of the UMA Ernesto González Mesa, who, based on this study, adds the possible difficulties that may derive from cesarean section, very common in multiple births.

"We have verified that cesarean section becomes a risk factor to development. This is why gynecologists firmly believe in vaginal delivery benefits, and we defend the use of this surgical intervention only as an option when problems arise", says González Mesa.

This study, published in the scientific journal Frontiers in Psychology, finally comprised a total of 160 twins who were born in Hospital Materno-Infantil in Málaga in the year 2005; there were 7000 births in this period, and almost 300 were multiple births. From the sample of all twins, 55 percent were born by vaginal delivery and 45 percent by cesarean delivery.

In a first stage of the study, the participating children's intelligence and neuropsychological and psychopedagogical development were tested, which results were compared, in a second stage, with information on obstetric and perinatal variables, such as type of delivery, its problems, maternal age or newborn weight, among others.

"When comparing all data, we found out that those children that had a lower intellectual level and cognitive development were born by cesarean delivery", explains María José González Valenzuela, Professor from the Evolutive Psychology and Education Department and main researcher of the study.

The expert asserts that, apart from early diagnosis, this study seeks intervention through activities at school and primary health care centers. In this regard, Counselor Olga Cazorla Granados, co-author of this study, adds that there is an increased tendency in educational environments to search for neurological factors to explain difficulties in psychological development.

Addressing the major reading, writing and calculating difficulties that twins often have, and identifying benefits of vaginal delivery as against cesarean section, for example, the neurological effects that children's intestinal flora, different in each type of delivery, may give rise to, are other future lines to progress in this study, in which Professor Dolores López Montiel, from the Department of Psychobiology and Behavioral Science Methodology, has also participated.

July 19, 2019--Patients with cystic fibrosis who take ivacaftor appear to have fewer respiratory infections over time than those not taking the drug, according to new research published online in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society.

Cystic fibrosis is caused by mutations in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene. Ivacaftor (Kalydeco®) is prescribed to patients whose CF is caused by a "gating" mutation. This group of mutations, which are responsible for about 4 percent of all CF cases, prevents chloride from moving in and out of cells. By restoring the gate's function, ivacaftor has been shown to improve lung function and quality of life.

In "Ivacaftor Is Associated with Reduced Lung Infection by Key Cystic Fibrosis Pathogens: A Cohort Study Using National Registry Data," researchers in the U.K. report that ivacaftor may also reduce some of the most common lung infections in patients with CF, including P. aeruginosa. If this is true, they say, it may mean that some patients taking ivacaftor can take fewer antibiotics long term and still remain clinically stable.

"People with CF notice improvement in lung function and quality of life soon after they start taking ivacaftor, but they still have to live with a considerable treatment burden from all the other medications they take," said lead author Freddy Frost, BMBS, a cystic fibrosis physician at Liverpool Heart & Chest Hospital. "At present, we simply don't know whether it's safe to stop some of those other treatments. The fact we have seen reduced infections in this study suggests there may be some people who can safely discontinue medications targeted towards those infections."

Using data from a CF registry in the U.K., the authors compared CF patients (age six and older) who took ivacaftor with those CF patients who did not take the drug over a three-year period.

The study found that ivacaftor was associated with a 32 percent reduction in the number of people infected with P. aeruginosa and a 15 percent reduction in Staphylococcus aureus. These reductions resulted from both increased clearance of the infection in those already infected and in reduced acquisition in those not infected.

The authors said that with people starting ivacaftor and other drugs that correct defects in the CF gene from an early age, the possibility of preventing these infections is particularly exciting. "If these drugs are taken before chronic infection starts, the risk of developing infection in the future may be reduced considerably," Dr. Frost said.

Ivacaftor was also associated with reduced Aspergillus spp. infections. The drug did not appear to reduce Burkholderia cepacia complex infections.

Dr. Frost said that the study adds to the increasing evidence of the long-term benefits of ivacaftor. "However," he added, "randomized, controlled trials will be needed to know if it is safe to reduce the overall treatment burden of CF by decreasing antibiotic use in patients taking ivacaftor or other drugs that target defects in the CF gene."

Greenhouse gasses Observation SATellite-2 "IBUKI-2" (GOSAT-2) developed jointly by the Ministry of the Environment (MOE), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES) was launched with the H-IIA Launch Vehicle No. 40 (H-IIA F40) on October 29, 2018, and later on February 1, 2019, the satellite started its nominal operation. In this press release, we will summaries the analysis result of the proxy-method based retrievals (methane and carbon monoxide) from data acquired by the Thermal And Near infrared. Sensor for carbon Observation - Fourier Transform Spectrometer-2 on board GOSAT-2. Note that this result was presented at the OSA Optical Sensors and Sensing Congress held on June 25-27, 2019 in San Jose, California, the United States (the U.S.).

We will further work on estimating column-averaged dry-air mole fractions of carbon dioxide using the full-physics method while proceeding validation of the acquired concentration data by comparing to ground-based observational data as well as to data acquired by similar satellites from Europe and the U.S.

Greenhouse gasses Observation SATellite-2 "IBUKI-2" (GOSAT-2) was jointly developed by the Ministry of the Environment of Japan (MOE), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES) (hereinafter, collectively, the "Three Parties") as the successor to Greenhouse gasses Observation SATellite "IBUKI" (GOSAT) which was developed by the same Three Parties and has been in operation since its launch in 2009.

GOSAT-2 was launched on October 29, 2018 from the JAXA Tanegashima Space Center with the H-IIA Launch Vehicle No. 40 (H-IIA F40). Later, GOSAT-2 collected the first light data from the onboard instruments; first on November 5-6, 2018, images from the Thermal And Near infrared Sensor for carbon Observation - Cloud and Aerosol Imager-2 (CAI-2), and on December 12-14, 2018, data from the Thermal And Near infrared Sensor for carbon Observation - Fourier Transform Spectrometer-2 (FTS-2) were acquired, confirming that the onboard instruments were operating normally. Further, on February 1, 2019, GOSAT-2 shifted its operation mode to nominal and started global observations by CAI-2 and FTS-2. In this press release, we will summarize the analysis result of the proxy-method based retrievals from the data acquired by FTS-2. The proxy method used this time can apply to methane (CH4) and carbon monoxide (CO) retrievals but is not applicable to carbon dioxide (CO2) retrieval. This method is however, characterized in that even in the substantial influence of clouds and aerosols that requires filtering of data to be processed and quality control of retrieval results, column-averaged dry-air mole fractions can be retrieved in relatively high precision.

Figure 1 is the global distribution of methane column-averaged dry-air mole fractions (XCH4) retrieved from data acquired by FTS-2 from March 5 to April 3, 2019. This time, the proxy method was applied to FTS-2 Level 1B product (V002.004) to retrieve XCH4. The figure depicts the higher CH4 concentration in Southeast and South Asia, Central Africa and in the northern part of South America, in which many wetlands and forest fires, large sources of methane emissions, have been seen.

Figure 2 is the comparison of GOSAT-2 XCH4 (Proxy Method) with GOSAT XCH4 (Full Physics Method) for the same period. The mean difference in XCH4 between GOSAT and GOSAT-2 is found to be 0.0026 ppm (2.6 ppb) and the standard deviation (SD) is 0.0127 ppm (12.7 ppb). The precision of GOSAT XCH4 has already been verified by comparing with ground-based data, where the mean difference is 0.0019ppm (1.9 ppb) and the SD is 0.0134 ppm (13.4 ppb). Given that these values are almost the same compared to GOSAT-2 XCH4, GOSAT-2 XCH4 retrievals are considered reasonable.

Likewise, Figure 3 is the global distribution of carbon monoxide column-averaged dry-air mole fractions (XCO) retrieved by the proxy method from FTS-2 data, showing that XCO concentration is higher in South Asia and Central Africa where CO emissions from sources including fossil fuel use and forest fire are high. The similar distribution has also been seen in data derived for the same period by the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) on board Sentinel-5p, one of the European earth observation satellites. In addition, the estimated concentration values are confirmed to be mostly consistent with ground-based data acquired at several observation sites in the world. On another note, CO is one of the GOSAT-2's newly adopted measuring items, which is expected to be used to identify greenhouse gas emission sources. It should also be noted that CAI-2 data including cloud discrimination products are not yet utilized at this time, and FTS-2 data which were acquired in the presence of clouds may be included in the retrieval results presented here.

We will further work on estimating column-averaged dry-air mole fractions of CO2 using the full-physics method while proceeding validation of acquired concentration data by comparing with ground-based observational data as well as data acquired by similar satellites from Europe and the U.S. GOSAT-2 Level 2 products including the concentration data mentioned above are scheduled to be publicly released in one year from the launch of GOSAT-2, that is after the end of October, 2019.

Researchers at NIES

- Estimation for the column-averaged dry-air mole fractions of CH4 and CO using FTS-2 data: Yukio Yoshida, Senior Researcher

- Validation using ground-based observations: Isamu Morino, Senior Researcher

- Generation of a priori data used for estimating column-averaged dry-air mole fractions: Makoto Saito, Senior Researcher, Yosuke Niwa, Senior Researcher, and Tazu Saeki, Specialist

- Comparison with observations from similar satellites in Europe and the US: Hirofumi Ohyama, Senior Researcher

- Project management: Tsuneo Matsunaga, Director for Satellite Observation Center and Akihide Kamei, Specialist

Acknowledgement

For the generation of a priori data used for estimating column-averaged dry-air mole fractions, a numerical simulation model, Nonhydrostatic ICosahedral Atmospheric Model (NICAM), was used to calculate atmospheric transport models. For this calculation, sea-air CO2 flux data (1) and long-term reanalysis data, JRA-55 (2), provided by the Japan Meteorological Agency were used. The research and development related to these numerical simulations were supported by the Environment Research and Technology Development Fund (2-1701) of the Environmental Restoration and Conservation Agency of Japan, "Development of an Integrated Observation and Analysis System for Monitoring Greenhouse Gas Sources and Sinks." A super computer system at the National Institute for Environmental Studies was used for the calculation (3).

(1): https://www.data.jma.go.jp/gmd/kaiyou/english/co2_flux/co2_flux_data_en.html

(2): https://jra.kishou.go.jp/JRA-55/index_en.html

(3): http://www.cger.nies.go.jp/en/activities/supporting/supercomputer/

- The Research Computation Facility for GOSAT-2 (RCF2) of the Ministry of the Environment was used to estimate the column-averaged dry-air mole fractions of CH4 and CO reported in this press release.
http://www.gosat-2.nies.go.jp/about/rcf2/

- The ground-based observation data described in this press release are mainly greenhouse gases data obtained from a global observing network, the Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON), which observes sunlight absorbed by atmospheric minor constituents when reaching the ground by ground-based Fourier transform spectrometers.

- This research used the ground-based observations at the following sites: Orleans (France), Rikubetsu (Japan), Tsukuba (Japan), Saga (Japan), Burgos (the Philippines), Wollongong (Australia), and Lauder (New Zealand). Each observation site is operated by the following institutes:

Orleans: University of Bremen (Germany)

Rikubetsu and Tsukuba: NIES (Japan)

Saga: JAXA (Japan)

Burgos: Installed by GOSAT Series Project and operated jointly by NIES, University of Wollongong (Australia), and Energy Development Corporation (EDC, the Philippines)

Wollongong: University of Wollongong

Lauder: National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (New Zealand)

Contact

Tsuneo Matsunaga
Director, Satellite Observation Center, National Institute for Environmental Studies
Phone: +81-29-850-2838,
E-mail: matsunag (please append '@nies.go.jp' to complete the e-mail address)

GOSAT-2 Project, National Institute for Environmental Studies
Phone: +81-29-850-2731/2966,
E-mail: gosat-2-info (please append '@nies.go.jp' to complete the e-mail address)

Glossary

- Level 2 Product: Observation data by earth observing satellites are generally distributed by four major data products: Level 1 data products (equivalent to raw data), Level 2 data products (data converted into physical values), Level 3 data products (temporal and spatial averaged Level 2 data products), and Level 4 data products (processed data by inputting Level 1- 3 data products into models). GOSAT-2 Level 2 data products are the column-averaged dry-air mole fractions of CO2, CH4, and CO.

- Proxy method: The proxy method is one of methods to reduce the effects of the variation of the optical path length caused by scattering by clouds and aerosols in the estimation of the column-averaged dry-air mole fractions. It uses a ratio of the column-averaged dry-air mole fractions of two gases whose absorption bands are adjacent to each other, which are estimated under the assumption of no clouds or aerosols. It can obtain relatively accurate column-averaged dry-air mole fractions even if clouds and aerosols somewhat affect the optical path length, whereas it has disadvantages that its target gases of retrieval are limited, and CO2 is not applicable.
(Reference: Yoshida, Y. (2019) Journal of Remote Sensing Society of Japan, 39, 1, 22-28)

- Full physics method:
The full physics method is to estimate the column-averaged dry-air mole fractions by directly calculating the effects of the variation of the optical path length using a forward model, with parameters which describes the status of clouds and aerosols. The full physics method has no limitation of its target gases of retrieval, whereas it is more easily affected by the variation of the optical path length caused by clouds and aerosols. Measures are necessary, such as the selection of data to be processed and the quality control of retrieved results.

(Reference: Yoshida, Y. (2019) Journal of Remote Sensing Society of Japan, 39, 1, 22-28)

- Column amount: A numerical value of the total amount of gas represented by number of gas molecules in the column from the surface to the top of the atmosphere per unit area.

- Column-averaged dry-air mole fraction:

A ratio of the column amount of a greenhouse gas to the column amount of dry air.

(Reference: https://www.nies.go.jp/kanko/kankyogi/69/column2.html (in Japanese))

- Forward model: The forward model described in this press release is a model to estimate the upward radiance spectrum at the top of the atmosphere, including sunlight reflected from the surface, observed by the satellite after the assumptions of gaseous concentration, cloud and aerosol distribution, and surface reflectance.

- Optical path length: The optical path length described in this press release is the product of the average length of sunlight propagating through atmosphere to the satellite multiplied by the refractive index of the atmosphere. Sunlight reaches the satellite through various routes while scattered by gaseous molecules, clouds and aerosols, and reflected from the surface. The routes vary depending on the amounts or distribution of clouds and aerosols and the surface reflectance. The optical path length also varies according to the route.

- ppm (parts per million):

A kind of unit of atmospheric gas concentration. 1 ppm represents one-millionth.

- ppb (parts per billion):

A kind of unit of atmospheric gas concentration. 1 ppb represents one-billionth.

Related websites

- GOSAT-2 Project, National Institute for Environmental Studies
http://www.gosat-2.nies.go.jp/

- Satellite Observation Center, National Institute for Environmental Studies
http://www.nies.go.jp/soc/

- GOSAT Project, National Institute for Environmental Studies
http://www.gosat.nies.go.jp/en/

- GOSAT Data Archive Service, National Institute for Environmental Studies
https://data2.gosat.nies.go.jp/index_en.html

Modernizing health records by making them electronic has gained momentum as technology evolves and policies push health care toward digital solutions. But the same trend has not been evident for physicians who remain in private practice, new research finds.

The research led by Jordan Everson, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Health Policy at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), finds striking differences in use of electronic health records (EHRs) among more than 291,000 physicians included in the study.

Forty-nine percent of physicians who had remained independent since 2011 and were surveyed in the study attested to Meaningful Use of EHRs, such as electronic prescribing of medications and online patient portals -- at least once. In contrast, 70% of doctors in both group practices and working for hospitals during the study's timeline attested to meaningful use.

Meaningful Use of EHRs was first defined in 2009 by the America Reinvestment & Recovery Act, and financial incentives were offered to physicians and health systems that serve Medicare and Medicaid patients. The program was voluntary, and after 2015 the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) began reducing payments to providers if there was no expansion in adoption of EHR Meaningful Use practices.

Everson said this can be interpreted in several ways. One is independent doctors have more authority over the technology they use and could simply choose not to continue in the program as opposed to doctors in integrated systems where management could require participation.

"Another way to interpret this is that the cost-benefit equation was worse for independent physicians," Everson said. "In other words, the financial incentives in later years were not enough to overcome the cost of keeping up with Meaningful Use in addition to the time burden of using EHRs. Financial costs are likely particularly high for independent physicians who can't spread the cost across a large organization."

About half of independent physicians who participated in the EHR incentive program in the first years -- 2011 through 2013 -- left the program by 2015. In the same time frame, less than 20% of physicians who worked for hospitals left the program.

The study highlights other possible factors in this trend, such as an aging independent physician population that is retiring in greater numbers.

And while doctors have been moving into larger, integrated health practices for decades as the U.S. health system has grown more complex, that option might not be available for physicians that haven't kept up with new technologies. The study showed that independent physicians who participated in Meaningful Use on their own were more likely to later join integrated systems than physicians who did not participate.

"That may mean that physicians who are not technologically savvy do not have the option to join a bigger system to get help with new technologies," Everson said.

Everson's research, conducted with Melinda Buntin, PhD, Mike Curb Chair of Health Policy at Vanderbilt, and Michael Richards, MD, PhD, an associate professor at Baylor, is the most recent in a number of studies that have illustrated challenges faced by independent practices in adopting new and costly technology, or what many clinicians describe as physician burnout with electronic records.

Oakland, Calif. July 19, 2019 -- The number of women using cannabis in the year before they get pregnant and early in their pregnancies is increasing, and their frequency of use is also rising, according to new data from Kaiser Permanente.

The research, published July 19, 2019, in JAMA Network Open, examined self-reported cannabis use among 276,991 pregnant women (representing 367,403 pregnancies) in Northern California over 9 years and found that cannabis use has increased over time.

From 2009 to 2017, the adjusted prevalence of self-reported cannabis use in the year before pregnancy increased from 6.8% to 12.5%, and the adjusted prevalence of self-reported cannabis use during pregnancy increased from 1.9% to 3.4% (rates were adjusted for demographics). Annual rates of change in self-reported daily, weekly, and monthly-or-less cannabis use increased significantly, though daily use increased most rapidly.

Among women who self-reported cannabis use during the year before pregnancy, the proportion who were daily users increased from 17% to 25%, and weekly users increased from 20% to 22%, while monthly-or-less users decreased from 63% to 53% during the study period. Similarly, among women who self-reported cannabis use during pregnancy, the proportion who were daily users increased from 15% to 21%, and weekly users from 25% to 27%, while monthly users decreased from 60% to 52%.

"These findings should alert women's health clinicians to be aware of potential increases in daily and weekly cannabis use among their patients," said lead author Kelly Young-Wolff, PhD, MPH, a research scientist with the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research. "The actual numbers are likely higher, as women may be unwilling to disclose their substance use to a medical professional."

In addition, the prevalence of daily and weekly cannabis use may have risen even further in the past year and a half following legalization of cannabis for recreational use in California in 2018, Young-Wolff said.

The data come from women's initial prenatal visits at Kaiser Permanente in Northern California, which usually take place at around 8 weeks gestation, and do not reflect continued use throughout pregnancy. Investigators were unable to differentiate whether self-reported cannabis use during pregnancy occurred before or after women were aware that they were pregnant.

While the current findings are based on women's self-reporting, the results are supported by the Kaiser Permanente research team's December 2017 JAMA Research Letter showing an increase in prenatal cannabis use via urine toxicology testing. In this newer study, the authors focus on trends in frequency of use in the year before and during pregnancy.

Some women may use cannabis during pregnancy to manage morning sickness, the authors noted. The authors' previous work published in JAMA Internal Medicine in 2018 found women with severe nausea and vomiting in pregnancy were nearly 4 times more likely to use cannabis during the first trimester of pregnancy.

Women may get the impression from cannabis product marketing and online media that cannabis use is safe during pregnancy, said Young-Wolff. However, there is substantial evidence that exposure to cannabis in pregnancy is associated with having a low-birthweight baby, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends women who are pregnant or contemplating pregnancy discontinue cannabis use because of concerns about impaired neurodevelopment and exposure to the adverse effects of smoking.

"There is still much that is unknown on the topic, including what type of cannabis products pregnant women are using and whether the health consequences differ based on mode of cannabis administration and frequency of prenatal cannabis use," Young-Wolff noted.

More research is needed to offer women better, specific advice, said study senior author Nancy Goler, MD, an obstetrician/gynecologist and associate executive director of The Permanente Medical Group.

"There is an urgent need to better understand the effects of prenatal cannabis exposure as cannabis becomes legalized in more states and more widely accepted and used," Dr. Goler said. "Until such time as we fully understand the specific health risks cannabis poses for pregnant women and their fetuses, we are recommending stopping all cannabis use prior to conceiving and certainly once a woman knows she is pregnant."

The study was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Young-Wolff and Kaiser Permanente Division of Research colleague Lindsay Avalos, PhD, MPH, have received a new 5-year grant from NIDA to support further research on maternal cannabis use during pregnancy. They plan to study whether prenatal cannabis use is associated with increased risk of adverse maternal, fetal, and neonatal outcomes using data from urine toxicology testing, self-reported frequency of prenatal cannabis use, and mode of cannabis administration. They will also test whether legalization of cannabis for recreational use in 2018 and local regulatory practices (such as retailer bans) are associated with variation in prenatal cannabis use.

A survey of 93 people with 3q29 deletion syndrome reveals a distinct pattern of social disability and anxiety, even without a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder.

The results were published online in Molecular Autism on July 16.

Geneticists at Emory University School of Medicine teamed up with clinicians at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta's Marcus Autism Center to evaluate the largest cohort of people with 3q29 deletion ever assembled. Because 3q29 deletion syndrome is relatively rare (1/30,000 people), most physicians who have seen a case have only seen one. Study participants were recruited through a registry website, and they or their parents completed questionnaires about social, communication and behavioral issues. The average age was 10, but adults up to age 41 were included.

In 3q29 deletion syndrome, a stretch of DNA containing several genes is missing from one of a child's chromosomes. 3q29 deletion -- usually spontaneous, not inherited -- is one of the strongest genetic risk factors for schizophrenia, increasing the risk at least 20 fold. It also increases the likelihood of autism spectrum disorder at a similar level, the survey indicates: 24 fold for males and more than 40 fold for females.

Most people with 3q29 deletion did not have autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnoses (29 percent did), but overall they did have higher scores for social disability and anxiety. While not all participants were the same, their average profile was distinct from the general picture of autism spectrum disorder, in that people with 3q29 deletion tended to have high scores for restricted interests and repetitive behaviors, but only mild impairment in social motivation.

"The kids are motivated to have peer relationships, and desperately want them, yet aside from social motivation, they often lack other skills with which to form those relationships," says senior author Jennifer Mulle, PhD, assistant professor of human genetics at Emory University School of Medicine.

"One of our recommendations is that all individuals with 3q29 deletion should receive a thorough ASD evaluation as standard of care, so that they can have access to social services and therapeutic programs." Mulle says. "Because their intellectual disability is generally mild, cognitive behavioral therapy to teach social skills may be an effective intervention."

Another distinctive aspect of 3q29 deletion syndrome is its relatively greater effects on ASD risk in females compared with males. In the general ASD population, males outnumber females 4 to 1; this ratio is reduced to 2 to 1 for ASD diagnoses in the 3q29 group.

The first author of the paper is Genetics and Molecular Biology graduate student Rebecca Pollak. She worked with associate scientist Melissa Murphy, PhD at Emory and Celine Saulnier, PhD and Cheryl Klaiman, PhD at Marcus Autism Center. Emory geneticists Michael Epstein, PhD and Michael Zwick, PhD also contributed to the paper.

Mulle sees investigating 3q29 deletion syndrome - and other genetic variations connected with schizophrenia and autism -- as a way of unraveling the biological complexity of both conditions.

The Emory team is beginning to investigate individual genes found within the 3q29 deletion, aiming to understand molecular mechanisms. Working with cell biology chair Gary Bassell, scientists plan to create a human neuronal model of 3q29 deletion, using induced pluripotent stem cell lines. They are also investigating the patterns of gene activity in blood samples from 3q29 donors.

In April, Mulle and her colleagues from the Department of Human Genetics, including Tamara Caspary, PhD, David Weinshenker, PhD and Steve Warren, PhD published a mouse model of 3q29 deletion in Molecular Psychiatry. The mice display social and cognitive impairments that correspond to some symptoms of related neuropsychiatric disorders.

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Either to check the time or waste time, people often look at their smartphones after waking in the middle of the night.

While this acute burst of light does make it more difficult to fall back to sleep, a new Northwestern University study reports that it won't interfere with the body's overall circadian rhythms.

For the first time, researchers directly tested how short pulses of light are processed by the brain to affect sleep. They discovered that separate areas of the brain are responsible for short pulses versus long-term exposure to light. This finding challenges the widely accepted, long-held belief that all light information is relayed through the brain's suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), which synchronizes the body's sleep/wake cycles.

"Prior to the widespread use of electricity, our exposure to light and darkness occurred in a very predictable pattern," said Northwestern's Tiffany Schmidt, who led the study. "But light has become very cheap. We all have smartphones, and their screens are very bright. We're all getting exposed to light at the wrong times of day. It's becoming more important to understand how these different types of light information are relayed to the brain."

The paper will publish July 23 in the journal eLife. Schmidt is an assistant professor of neurobiology in Northwestern's Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. The study was carried out in collaboration with the laboratories of Fred Turek, the Charles and Emma Morrison Professor of Neurobiology in Weinberg, and Samer Hattar, section leader at the National Institute of Mental Health.

After light enters the eye, specialized neurons called intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs) carry the light information to the brain. Before Northwestern's study, researchers widely believed that all light information went through the SCN, a densely packed area in the hypothalamus known as the body's "circadian pacemaker."

"Light information comes into the SCN, and that's what synchronizes all of the body's clocks to the light/dark cycle," Schmidt said. "This one master pacemaker makes sure everything is in sync."

To conduct the study, Schmidt and her team used a genetically modified mouse model that only had ipRGCs projecting to the SCN -- but no other brain regions. Because mice are nocturnal, they fall asleep when exposed to light. The mice in the experiment, however, stayed awake when exposed to short pulses of light at night. The mice's body temperature, which also correlates to sleep, also did not respond to the short-term light.

The mice maintained a normal sleep/wake cycle and normal rhythms in their body temperature, suggesting that their overall circadian rhythms remained intact. This helps explain why one night of restless sleep and smartphone gazing might make a person feel tired the following day but does not have a long-term effect on the body.

"If these two effects -- acute and long-term light exposure -- were driven through the same pathway, then every minor light exposure would run the risk of completely shifting our body's circadian rhythms," Schmidt said.

Now that researchers know that the light-response system follows multiple pathways, Schmidt said more work is needed to map these pathways. For one, it is still unknown what area of the brain is responsible for processing acute light.

After more is known, then researchers might understand how to optimize light exposure to increase alertness in those who need it, such as nurses, shift workers and emergency personnel, while mitigating the harmful effects of a wholesale shift in circadian rhythms.

"Light at the wrong time of day is now recognized as a carcinogen," Schmidt said. "We want people to feel alert while they are exposed to light without getting the health risks that are associated with shifted circadian rhythms, such as diabetes, depression and even cancer."

Developed eco-friendly, low-cost, and high-efficiency wastewater processing catalyst made from agricultural byproduct, and High efficiency and removal rate achieved through application of ultrasound stimulation, leading to high expectation for the development of an environmental hormone removal system

The research team of Dr. Jae-woo Choi and Dr. Kyung-won Jung of the Korea Institute of Science and Technology's (KIST, president: Byung-gwon Lee) Water Cycle Research Center announced that it has developed a wastewater treatment process that uses a common agricultural byproduct to effectively remove pollutants and environmental hormones, which are known to be endocrine disruptors.

The sewage and wastewater that are inevitably produced at any industrial worksite often contain large quantities of pollutants and environmental hormones (endocrine disruptors). Because environmental hormones do not break down easily, they can have a significant negative effect on not only the environment but also the human body. To prevent this, a means of removing environmental hormones is required.

The performance of the catalyst that is currently being used to process sewage and wastewater drops significantly with time. Because high efficiency is difficult to achieve given the conditions, the biggest disadvantage of the existing process is the high cost involved. Furthermore, the research done thus far has mostly focused on the development of single-substance catalysts and the enhancement of their performance. Little research has been done on the development of eco-friendly nanocomposite catalysts that are capable of removing environmental hormones from sewage and wastewater.

The KIST research team, led by Dr. Jae-woo Choi and Dr. Kyung-won Jung, utilized biochar,** which is eco-friendly and made from agricultural byproducts, to develop a wastewater treatment process that effectively removes pollutants and environmental hormones. The team used rice hulls, which are discarded during rice harvesting, to create a biochar that is both eco-friendly and economical. The surface of the biochar was coated with nano-sized manganese dioxide to create a nanocomposite. The high efficiency and low cost of the biochar-nanocomposite catalyst is based on the combination of the advantages of the biochar and manganese dioxide.

**Biochar: a term that collectively refers to substances that can be created through the thermal decomposition of diverse types of biomass or wood under oxygen-limited conditions

The KIST team used the hydrothermal method, which is a type of mineral synthesis that uses high heat and pressure, when synthesizing the nanocomposite in order to create a catalyst that is highly active, easily replicable, and stable. It was confirmed that giving the catalyst a three-dimensional stratified structure resulted in the high effectiveness of the advanced oxidation process (AOP), due to the large surface area created.

When used under the same conditions in which the existing catalyst can remove only 80 percent of Bisphenol A (BPA), an environmental hormone, the catalyst developed by the KIST team removed over 95 percent in less than one hour. In particular, when combined with ultrasound (20kHz), it was confirmed that all traces of BPA were completely removed in less than 20 minutes. Even after many repeated tests, the BPA removal rate remained consistently at around 93 percent.

Dr. Kyung-won Jung of KIST's Water Cycle Research Center said, "The catalyst developed through this study makes use of a common agricultural byproduct. Therefore, we expect that additional research on alternative substances will lead to the development of catalysts derived from various types of organic waste biomass." Dr. Jae-woo Choi, also of KIST's Water Cycle Research Center, said, "We have high hopes that future studies aimed at achieving process optimization and increasing removal rates will allow for the development an environmental hormone removal system that is both eco-friendly and low-cost."

Many human cultures associate the colour red with sexuality and fertility. Among nonhuman primates too, red skin coloration is thought to contribute to sexual attractiveness. Indeed, in certain species, females are drawn more to the most colourful males. Yet the link between female coloration and attractiveness has been the subject of less investigation. So researchers from the CNRS (1), Kyoto University, and New York University looked at Japanese macaques to address this question. During their reproductive season, from November to February, both male and female macaques present redder faces and hindquarters. The scientists demonstrated that, contrary to what had been assumed for several years, such colour variations among female macaques do not precisely indicate the time of ovulation. On the other hand, dominant female macaques, who usually have greater reproductive success, have darker hindquarters. To reach these conclusions, the research team studied 12 female macaques at the Kyoto University Primate Research Institute over a three-month period. Using photographs taken every two days, the scientists developed a model of macaque visual perception to determine which colour variations these primates were able to detect. Their findings have been published in Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.

Sustainable land management key to reducing Amazon wildfires, study shows

The unrelenting deforestation of the Amazon region could lead to a dramatic increase to the risk of destructive wildfire outbreaks, research has shown.

The new study suggests that unrestrained deforestation, converting rainforest to agricultural land, could expand the areas at risk of wildfires by more than 70 per cent by the end of the century.

In response, the international team of researchers, including Dr Luiz Aragão from the University of Exeter, suggest that concerted efforts to improve sustainable land management in the area could provide the best method of defence over the coming decades.

The study is published in the prestigious journal Global Change Biology.

The research team, led by the National Institute of Space Research (INPE) and the Centre for Disaster Research and Monitoring (CEMADEN) in Brazil and also including Stockholm University, used sophisticated modelling techniques to conduct the study.

It showed that policies such as the construction and paving of new highways, increased deforestation and reducing the effectiveness of protected areas could dramatically increase the risk of wildfires.

Crucially, when coupled with the IPCC´s CMIP5 pessimistic climate change scenario, which projects increased greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions throughout the 21st century, the area with high probability of wildfires could increase by up to 110%.

Dr Aragão, who is also head of INPE's Remote Sensing Division, said: "The study identifies a very serious problem and we have to use this result for the benefit of Brazil's sustainable development

"For the first time, we have been able to demonstrate that although the climate is changing, with the possibility of negative consequences for the Amazon, the biggest villain on the burning issue is the poorly planned use of land in this region.

"The bottom line is that unlike the climate, land use issues can be addressed through control measures that can be implemented quickly, solving a significant fraction of the problem."

According to the DETER/INPE deforestation alerts, between July 2018-2019, 5,364 km2 of forests - an area the size of the island of Trinidad - were cleared, and another 4,405 km2 were affected forest fires.

Dr Marisa Fonseca, a postdoctoral researcher at INPE and lead author of the study said: "This means that if we continue removing forest cover in Amazonia, we will be potentializing wildfire degradation of the remaining forests, with consequences for the stability of carbon stocks and environmental services."

Conservation units and indigenous lands may not be safe. The results from the model indicate that more than 1 million km2 within indigenous lands or protected areas would be subject to an increased likelihood of occurrence of wildfires, threatening both ecosystems and human populations in these areas.

The adoption of measures aimed at reducing deforestation and GHG emissions, however, can significantly reduce the probability of wildfires, even with the intensification of droughts in the Amazon by the end of the century.

The study, Effects of climate and land-use change scenarios on fire probability during the 21st century in the Brazilian Amazon, can be accessed here.

A research team led by Leonor Saúde, Principal Investigator at Instituto de Medicina Molecular (iMM; Lisbon, Portugal), in partnership with the company Technophage, SA, has designed a simple and efficient platform that uses zebrafish to discover and identify new drugs to treat spinal cord lesions. This study, published this week in open access in Scientific Reports, is the proof-of-concept for the use of this zebrafish platform that, combined with drug repurposing, has the potential to accelerate the translation period from the discovery to the clinics.

Spinal cord injuries can have devastating consequences because of their importance for day-to-day activities such as walking, but also because of the failure to regenerate, leading to permanent disabilities. These lesions are a complex clinical condition for which the current treatment options have limited success in neurological and functional recovery. "For a significant functional recovery, it is likely that different therapies for multiple targets will be needed, due to the complex nature of the spinal cord lesions" starts explaining Leonor Saúde, "with this work we have shown that, using zebrafish, we can accelerate the discovery of new therapeutic targets for spinal cord lesions".

"Here, we have designed a simple and efficient platform that allows testing a large number of molecules and selecting them based on their ability to accelerate the regeneration of the spinal cord in zebrafish. Our platform consists of a model of spinal cord transection in zebrafish larvae where we test different therapeutic protocols and evaluate its efficacy through larvae locomotor function over time", explains Diana Chapela, a PhD student and first author of this paper. The researchers validated this platform by testing molecules that entered clinical trials for spinal cord injury, namely Riluzole, Minocycline and D-Cycloserine. The results obtained showed that these drugs can also accelerate the regeneration of the spinal cord in the zebrafish.

"We then tested on our zebrafish platform more than 100 molecules already approved by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for other conditions and identified a molecule with motor recovery properties in zebrafish larvae, the Tranexamic Acid", says Leonor Saúde. Next, the efficacy of this drug was tested in a spinal cord injury model in rodents. "Our results show that this molecule, which is an antifibrinolytic agent, has the ability to improve motor function in mammals with spinal cord injury" adds the researcher.

These promising results show the high potential of this platform, which " combined with drug repurposing, has the potential to boost the rapid translation of new therapeutics for the spinal cord lesions in humans," says Leonor Saúde.

The results of a recent Nordic collaboration study showed that there is no difference in functional results between operative and non-operative treatment in persons aged 60 or more with displaced proximal humerus fractures.

Proximal humerus fractures are more common in older persons than in younger adults. This fracture usually occurs as a result of falling, usually at home, directly on to the shoulder. In the proximal humerus, the bone is more fragile than lower in the forearm. The healing potential in the proximal humerus is, however, better than lower in the forearm.

In the study, published in Plos Medicine journal, only fractures with a significant displacement between bone fragments were included. Traditionally, humerus fractures have been operatively treated using a metal plate and screws. In the non-operative treatment group, patients used a collar and cuff sling for three weeks and underwent instructed physiotherapy.

The trial included 88 patients who were followed for two years, and was conducted as a multinational, multicenter study in six trauma centers.

The findings of the study are novel and challenge current treatment protocols. "Moreover the result had a positive impact on both the lives of the patients as well as on the economic cost of treatment," says Aare Märtson, Professor in Orthopedics at the University of Tartu Institute of Clinical Medicine.

Abandoning those procedures that offer no benefit to the patient could result in savings of up to one million euros per year. Furthermore, patient recovery will be as successful as previously but without the surgery-related pain and complications.

The leading center was Tampere University Hospital, Finland. Other centers included Jyväskylä Central Hospital, Finland, Karolinska Hospital, Stockholm and Uppsala University Hospital from Sweden, Viborg Hospital from Denmark, and Tartu University Hospital from Estonia.

Next object for the NITEP study group is to assess whether older adults would benefit from surgery after distal radius fracture.

Many nocturnal animals including insects use a species-specific smell, that is sex a pheromone, to locate and attract potential mates. For example, female American cockroaches emit sex pheromones called "periplanones" with unique chemical structures. Males that detect them with their antennae orientate towards the pheromone source, preform courtship rituals, and mate.

The Turkestan cockroach, Blatta lateralis, also known as red cockroach, has now growing attention as a world-wide invasive pest, especially in the southern United States. Its origin is temperate to subtropical zones of the Middle East. "The Turkestan cockroach is popular as live food among reptile breeders and can be easily purchased online. So, this would be the first species that expands its habitat via the internet," says Hiroshi Nishino of Hokkaido University.

Recent molecular genetic studies have shown that the Turkestan cockroach is phylogenetically close to the American cockroach in the genus Periplaneta, despite their morphological and habitational differences.

This study, led by Hiroshi Nishino and published in Neuroscience Letters, found that the Turkestan cockroach uses periplanones or similar substances as sex pheromones. The experiments showed a male Turkestan cockroach has an extremely large glomerulus that specifically processes sex pheromones in a part of the brain called the antennal lobe. The glomerulus was three times bigger than that of American cockroaches, suggesting it has more sensory cells for processing sex pheromones. Accordingly, the output neuron from the large glomerulus was extremely sensitive to periplanones. As little as 0.1 femtograms of pheromone contained in a filter paper was sufficient to excite the output neuron when the paper contacted a very small region (approx. 1mm) of the antenna. This sensitivity to periplanone was more than 100 times higher compared to that of the American cockroach.

Researchers also found that a male Turkestan cockroach was attracted to periplanone, but, unlike American cockroaches, the pheromone alone did not trigger courtship rituals. Courtship rituals started only after coming in contact with a female of the same species. This implies that a low volatile substance on the female's body plays an important role in preventing the species from mating with other species.

"Turkestan cockroaches adapt to inground containers where odor molecules diffuse very slowly and this could be why they have evolved an enlarged glomerulus to detect tiny packets of pheromones," says Hiroshi Nishino. He added, "We need exercise caution when handling Turkestan cockroaches because they are a member of the genus Periplaneta, in which most have become household pests worldwide.

Just as lions are apex predators on land, lionfish in Florida are an underwater force to be reckoned with. The biggest threat they pose, however, is not their venomous spines. It is the alarming speed and ferocity with which they invade new waters, eating prey that have not evolved to recognize them as a predator, stealing food from important commercial fish like snapper and grouper, and spawning baby lionfish at incredible rates.

In the 1980s, lionfish (native to the South Pacific and Indian Ocean) were introduced to Floridian waters, possibly by humans who bought them as exotic pets and later released them to the ocean. Over the next decades they spread rapidly, and today they have thoroughly invaded their preferred warm waters in the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean, damaging the native coral reef systems and food webs.

"The destructive nature of the lionfish invasion is partly to blame on their reproductive success," says Montana Airey, a masters student at Columbia University who studies lionfish. "They can produce thousands of eggs every week, which after hatching can spread widely on ocean currents. Also, since they are invaders, their prey don't recognize them as dangers, so they can eat without much effort." 

As adults, lionfish tend to be slow-moving and stay local, not straying far from their settled reef home. The invasiveness of lionfish is therefore thought to happen when they are small, larval fish being carried to new places by currents. However, researchers have little information about how grown lionfish might invade or move to new waters because tracking small marine organisms poses difficulties.

One way to investigate their movements, though, is to study their ear-bones.

Lionfish ear-bones, or otoliths, grow over time in the way tree-rings do. "Since otoliths have growth rings related to their age," Airey explains, "we can look at different parts of the otolith to understand the fish's life at different points in time. The otolith core is the fish's juvenile growth and the outer rim is the most recent growth."

Airey studies otoliths of lionfish captured at various depths and habitat types (such as coral reefs or sandy bottoms) along the Gulf Coast of Florida and the Florida Keys. She looks at carbon and oxygen atoms in the otolith layers, specifically analyzing the makeup of stable isotopes - a version of an atom, in this case an oxygen or carbon atom, which has equal numbers of protons and neutrons in its nucleus and is therefore balanced and non-radioactive. The chemical traits of stable isotopes make them extremely useful in environmental studies investigating detailed records of past water conditions.

The makeup of stable isotopes in each otolith layer is dependent on water temperature and the type of algae or plants present throughout the fish's life. Because water temperature and type of algae changes with water depth, Airey can determine where a lionfish has lived, and she creates a profile of movement between a lionfish's larval settlement location and its home when caught.

Airey hopes these data will reveal how often lionfish move away from certain water depths, what proportion stay local (also called "site-specific"), and what habitat type they tend to migrate towards. In preliminary results she will present at the August meeting of the Ecological Society of America, she found something unexpected.

"Lionfish have been shown to be very site-specific," she says. "But I observed many individuals with compositions in their otoliths that suggest they moved some distance at least once throughout their life."

If adult lionfish are more mobile than previously thought, the strategies for management of this invasive species could become even more complex. Understanding their choice of habitat once they grow up can help managers to more effectively focus their removal and conservation efforts.

Airey's research is the first to use this stable isotope analysis to explore settlement and migratory behavior of lionfish in their invaded waters. "Lionfish weren't commonly studied in their native habitat before the invasion began," she adds. "I feel that stable isotopes are a strong tool to be used in studies, like my own. They allow us to 'see' general patterns underwater that we would have a hard time actually seeing otherwise." 

ITHACA, N.Y. - Having healthy gut flora - the trillions of bacteria housed in our intestines - could lower the risk of infection following knee and hip replacement surgeries, while an unhealthy intestinal flora may increase the risk of infection.

Over 1 million Americans opt for a knee or hip replacement each year. Infection of an artificial hip or knee is a rare, but debilitating complication. A study by researchers at Cornell's College of Engineering and the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) published July 8 in the journal Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research shows gut microbiome health influences the risk of infection. The study of mice is a first step toward understanding the implications for humans.

"This research is in early stages, but if it pans out in humans, it's possible we could change or fix the patient's gut microbiome before they go in for hip or knee replacement and that could further reduce the risk of infection," said Christopher Hernandez, associate professor in the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and the Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering, and the paper's first author.

To prevent infection, surgeons take multiple precautions during surgery. As a result, infections following joint replacement surgeries are rare, affecting only 1% of patients who have procedures. However, infections are the No. 1 reason for replacing an artificial knee and the No. 3 cause for replacing an artificial hip.

In the study, the researchers used mice fitted with tiny artificial knees developed by co-authors Dr. Alberto Carli and Dr. Mathias Bostrom, both surgeon scientists at HSS in New York who are also faculty at Weill Cornell Medicine. The Cornell-HSS Program in Biomechanics has linked researchers at HSS with those at Cornell's College of Engineering for over 40 years, resulting in multiple advancements in joint replacement technology.

The mouse knee replacement was originally developed to improve implant design and to study how bone grows into these implants. Carli then advanced the model to study infections.

In normal mice, immune system markers in the bloodstream rise during an infection, as the body responds. But in the study, these markers did not rise in mice with unhealthy microbiomes that also developed infections. The results suggest that mice with unhealthy microbiomes may have compromised immune systems.

In the future, the researchers will investigate whether patients could be prepped ahead of surgery with emerging microbiome-based therapies or a readily available one, such as a regimen of probiotics.