Culture

Researchers in Japan have discovered that the Plasmodium parasites responsible for malaria rely on a human liver cell protein for their development into a form capable of infecting red blood cells and causing disease. The study, which will be published June 12 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, suggests that targeting this human protein, known as CXCR4, could be a way to block the parasite’s life cycle and prevent the development of malaria.

According to the World Health Organization, there were an estimated 219 million cases of malaria in 2017, resulting in the deaths of approximately 435,000 people. Infected mosquitoes transmit Plasmodium parasites to humans in the form of rod-shaped sporozoites that travel to the liver and invade liver cells (hepatocytes). Once inside these cells, the Plasmodium sporozoites develop into spherical exoerythrocytic forms (EEFs) that eventually give rise to thousands of merozoites capable of spreading into red blood cells and causing malaria.

“It seems likely that the transformation of Plasmodium sporozoites into EEFs is tightly controlled so that it only occurs in hepatocytes and not at earlier stages of the parasite’s life cycle,” says Masahiro Yamamoto, a professor at the Research Institute for Microbial Diseases of Osaka University. “However, we know very little about the host factors that regulate the differentiation of sporozoites in infected hepatocytes.”

In the new study, Yamamoto and colleagues discovered that a hepatocyte protein called CXCR4 helps Plasmodium sporozoites transform into EEFs. Depleting this protein from human liver cells reduced the ability of sporozoites to develop into EEFs. Moreover, mice pretreated with a drug that inhibits CXCR4 were resistant to malaria, showing reduced levels of parasites in the blood and significantly higher survival rates following Plasmodium infection.

Yamamoto and colleagues also identified a cell signaling pathway that causes hepatocytes to produce more CXCR4 in response to Plasmodium infection and determined that the protein aids the parasite’s development by raising the levels of calcium inside the cells.

“Our study reveals that CXCR4 blockade inhibits Plasmodium sporozoite transformation in hepatocytes,” Yamamoto says. “Most anti-malaria drugs targeting Plasmodium-derived molecules eventually lead to drug resistance in these parasites. However, inhibitors targeting human proteins such as CXCR4 might avoid this problem and could be used prophylactically to prevent the development of malaria. Moreover, the CXCR4 inhibitor used in this study is already widely used in humans undergoing treatment for blood cancers, which could accelerate its repurposing as a new way of combating malaria.”

WASHINGTON--Transgenerational bisphenol A (BPA) exposure may contribute to autism, according to a mouse study published in the Endocrine Society's journal Endocrinology.

Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are chemicals or mixtures of chemicals that interfere with the way the body's hormones work. BPA is a common EDC used in plastics and food storage material, and it is already present in most humans' urine or blood. Animal studies have linked BPA to anxiety, aggression, and poor learning and social interactions. Studies of human populations report associations between BPA and neurobehavioral issues like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism.

"Exposure of mouse fetuses to BPA disrupts formation of nerve cell connections in the brain, and this is a transgenerational effect," said the study's senior author, Emilie F. Rissman, Ph.D., of University of Virginia School of Medicine in Charlottesville, Va. and North Carolina State University in Raleigh, N.C. "To put this in human terms, if your great grandmother was exposed to BPA during her pregnancy and none of your other relatives ever came into contact with BPA, your brain would still show these effects."

In this mouse study, researchers tested mice descended from those exposed to BPA for social recognition and found that they showed a social behavioral deficient like autistic behavior. Mice whose great grandmothers were exposed to BPA during pregnancy were more active and took longer to habituate to strangers than other mice. More strikingly, they didn't explore the new mice that were introduced to the group. Mice are very social and curious, so this is an exciting finding.

"Even if we ban all BPA right now, that will not change these long-term effects on the brain," Rissman said.

Researchers have conducted the first analysis of Bitcoin power consumption based on empirical data from IPO filings and localization of IP addresses. They found that the cryptocurrency's carbon emissions measure up to those of Kansas City--or a small nation. The study, published June 12 in the journal Joule, suggests that cryptocurrencies contribute to global carbon emissions, an issue that must be considered in climate change mitigation efforts.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies rely on blockchain technology, which enables a secure network without relying on a third party. Instead, so-called Bitcoin "miners" guarantee a system without fraud by validating new transactions. Miners solve puzzles for numerical signatures, a process that requires enormous amounts of computational power. In return, miners receive Bitcoin currency.

"This process results in immense energy consumption, which translates into a significant carbon footprint," says Christian Stoll, a researcher at the Center for Energy Markets at the Technical University of Munich, Germany, and the MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research.

Scientists have growing concerns that Bitcoin mining is fueling an appetite for energy consumption that sometimes draws from questionable fuel sources--such as coal from Mongolia--in addition to hydropower and other low-carbon power resources. And cryptocurrency's energy issues seem to only be getting worse, with the computing power required to solve a Bitcoin puzzle increasing more than four-fold in 2018. While there is a growing push among researchers to quantify Bitcoin's energy consumption in order to better understand its contribution to global climate change, recent studies have struggled to generate accurate estimates.

"We argue that our work goes beyond prior work," says Stoll. "We can provide empirical evidence where current literature is based on assumptions."

Stoll and his team used IPO filings disclosed in 2018 by all major mining hardware producers to determine which machines miners are actually using and the power efficiencies of these machines. They also used IP addresses to determine emissions scenarios for actual mining locations and compare carbon emissions from power sources used by Bitcoin miners in different locations. Finally, they calculated Bitcoin's carbon footprint based on its total power consumption and estimates from different emissions scenarios. These include a lower limit scenario, in which all miners use the most efficient hardware; an upper limit scenario, in which miners behave rationally by disconnecting their hardware as soon as costs exceed revenue; and a best guess scenario, which accounts for the anticipated energy efficiency of the network and realistic additional energy losses from cooling and IT hardware.

"Our model reflects how the connected computing power and the difficulty of Bitcoin search puzzles interact, and it provides a high precision of power consumption since it incorporates auxiliary losses," says Stoll. "However, the precision of our results strongly depends on the accuracy of the input data, such as the IPO filings for hardware characteristics. The carbon emissions strongly depend on the assumed carbon intensity of power consumption."

Using this model, Stoll and his team estimated Bitcoin's annual energy consumption at 45.8 terawatt hours. This allowed them to calculate an annual carbon emissions range between 22.0 and 22.9 megatons of CO2--equivalent to CO2 emitted by Kansas City and placing Bitcoin's emissions between Jordan and Sri Lanka in emissions rankings (the 82nd and 83rd highest emitters). However, the researchers estimate that the energy consumption estimate would almost double (greatly amplifying emissions estimates) if they were to include all other cryptocurrencies in their consequences.

"We do not question the efficiency gains that blockchain technology could, in certain cases, provide," says Stoll. "However, the current debate is focused on anticipated benefits, and more attention needs to be given to costs."

Study supports the hypothesis that a food for special medical purposes containing Fortasyn Connect® can benefit patients with mild cognitive impairment who are at high risk of progression to the dementia stage of Alzheimer's disease, according to research published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease Reports.

Amsterdam, June 12, 2019 - A new longitudinal study has shown that a nutritional drink* designated a "food for special medical purposes" containing the multinutrient combination Fortasyn Connect® can benefit patients with the earliest stages of Alzheimer's disease (AD), mild cognitive impairment, who are at risk of progressing to the dementia stage of AD, report scientists in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease Reports.

The purpose of this study was to assess whether this multinutrient combination can benefit patients with mild cognitive impairment who are at risk of progressing to the dementia stage of AD. Previous studies have shown that Fortasyn Connect® can have benefits in early AD.

"The initial asymptomatic phase (preclinical AD) continues into a prodromal phase with mild but noticeable cognitive impairment, yet with functional autonomy, with eventual further progression to dementia. This gradual progression creates a window of opportunity for intervention," explained lead investigator Maria Sagrario Manzano Palomo, MD, PhD, Department of Neurology, Infanta Leonor Hospital, Madrid, Spain. "Recent trials have involved multimodal, non-pharmacological approaches including dietary intervention, which is an important modifiable risk factor."

This longitudinal study, with a one-year follow-up, was carried out from June 2015 to December 2016 in the Neurology Department of Infanta Cristina Hospital, Madrid, Spain. Investigators recruited 43 patients with mild cognitive impairment and a mean age of 70. 58.5% of the patients were women.

Neuropsychological tests and 18F-FDG-PET imaging were conducted at the inclusion visit and checked again at the one-year follow-up, which also included a neurological examination and a Subjective Changing Scale completed by the caregiver. Seventeen patients received the product while 24 patients were in the group without intervention, and two patients withdrew.

F-FDG-PET imaging studies provide a measure of the number of synapses in a brain region (this number decreases in mild cognitive impairment progressing to more advanced AD); the ability of this food for special medical purposes to impact this decrease in synaptic number was assessed.

18F-FDG PET scans showed a significant worsening in the group without nutritional intervention compared with the group receiving the product. There was a significant worsening in memory performance, executive functions and attention in the group without intervention, while the group receiving the product showed a stabilization in these outcome measures. Similarly, caregivers indicated a stabilization/improvement in the group with nutritional intervention. This observational real-life study illustrates the positive experience of clinical use of this food for special medical purposes.

"The nutritional drink containing the multinutrient combination Fortasyn Connect® has already been shown in previous studies to have a significant effect on several cognitive domains in patients in the early stage of AD including those with mild cognitive impairment," commented Dr. Manzano. "The results of this study support the hypothesis that the product can benefit patients with mild cognitive impairment who are at risk of progressing to the dementia stage of AD. Caregivers also reported benefits in patients."

Richard Wurtman, MD, who developed the multinutrient combination Fortasyn Connect® with colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Cambridge, MA, USA, explained, "Most people had thought any effective intervention would involve getting rid of brain amyloid-beta, a presumed toxin that was believed to destroy brain synapses. This study by Dr. Manzano and colleagues shows that this nutritional intervention works in patients by an entirely different biochemical mechanism. Rather than blocking a neurotoxin's effect, the data suggest that by providing nutritional support, it can help brain neurons make more synapses. This hypothesis is supported by the new data on 18F-FDG PET that there was significant worsening in the individuals who had not received the nutritional intervention and less worsening among those receiving the intervention. That is, as they say, a 'big deal.'"

George Perry, Editor-in-Chief of JAD Reports and Chief Scientist of the Brain Health Consortium at the University of Texas at San Antonio, stated, "The results of this JAD Reports study support the concept of nutrition focused on synapse formation as critical in maintaining cognition in the face of impending AD. Intervention with the nutritional drink containing Fortasyn Connect® appears to support neuronal communication through synaptogenesis. We hope these insights open a new era of further investigation into nutritional interventions that support the natural plasticity of the brain to repair damage.''

AD is an irreversible, progressive brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills, and, eventually, the ability to carry out the simplest tasks. In most people with AD, symptoms first appear in their mid-60s. It is the most common cause of dementia among older adults. According to the Alzheimer's Association, 13% of people over 65 suffer from this disease in developed countries, and the number is increasing in developing countries. AD has a significant socioeconomic impact, which will lead to increased economic burden in healthcare systems all over the world.

Scientists at the University of Warwick have shown that bioelectrical signals from bacteria can be used to rapidly determine if they are alive or dead.

The findings offer a new technology which detects live bacteria in minutes instead of waiting for lab-test results which can take days.

When zapped with an electrical field, live bacteria absorb dye molecules, causing the cells to light up and allowing them to be counted easily.

This rapid technique can detect antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

A discovery by researchers at the School of Life Sciences at the University of Warwick offers a new technology for detecting bacteria in minutes by 'zapping' the bacteria with electricity.

Testing clinical samples or commercial products for bacterial contamination typically takes days. During this time, they can cause significant damage; many infections can become life threatening very quickly if not identified and treated with appropriate antibiotics.

For example, 8% of people with severe blood infection sepsis will die for every hour of delay in proper treatment. More routine problems like urinary tract infections are difficult to diagnose and some people cannot get a clear answer about their symptoms due to difficulties with detecting low-level infections. Studies have found 20-30% of urinary tract infections are missed by dipstick tests used for detecting bacteria in the urine.

Scientists at the University of Warwick have discovered that healthy bacteria cells and cells inhibited by antibiotics or UV light showed completely different electric reactions.

They made this discovery by combining biological experiments, engineering and mathematical modelling. Published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA (PNAS), these findings could lead to the development of medical devices which can rapidly detect live bacterial cells, evaluate the effects of antibiotics on growing bacteria colonies, or which could identify different types of bacteria and reveal antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

The researchers have an ambitious plan to deliver the technology to market to maximise social good and have founded a start-up company Cytecom to commercialise the idea. The company has been awarded a grant from Innovate UK, the national innovation funding agency. This governmental support accelerates the process and the devices will be available to researchers and businesses in the very near future.

Dr Munehiro Asally, Assistant Professor at the University of Warwick comments:

"It is such an exciting time to work on bio-electricity of bacterial cells. This work demonstrates that bacterial electricity can lead to societally important technology, while at the same time gaining fundamental insights into our basic understanding of cells. The tool we developed can offer more opportunities by allowing experiments which were not possible to perform before."

Dr James Stratford, from the School of Life Sciences and Warwick spinout company Cytecom comments:

"The system we have created can produce results which are similar to the plate counts used in medical and industrial testing but about 20x faster. This could save many people's lives and also benefit the economy by detecting contamination in manufacturing processes."

Dr Yoshikatsu Hayashi, from the University of Reading, comments:

"Using the widely used mathematical model in Neuroscience, we revealed a common mechanism of excitable cells, neuron and bacteria cells, and the extended neuronal model could explain two distinct electric reactions of healthy and unhealthy bacteria cells. Surprisingly, a single parameter representing the degree of non-equilibrium across the membrane was sufficient to explain the distinct responses of the cells. This is an important step towards understanding the origin of electrical signalling."

When we train the reaching for and grasping of objects, we also train our brain. In other words, this action brings about changes in the connections of a certain neuronal population in the red nucleus, a region of the midbrain. Researchers at the University of Basel's Biozentrum have discovered this group of nerve cells in the red nucleus. They have also shown how fine motor tasks promote plastic reorganization of this brain region. The results of the study have been published recently in Nature Communications.

Simply grasping a coffee cup needs fine motor coordination with the highest precision. This required performance of the brain is an ability that can also be learned and trained. Prof. Kelly Tan's research group at the Biozentrum, University of Basel, has investigated the red nucleus, a region of the midbrain that controls fine motor movement, and identified a new population of nerve cells which changes when fine motor coordination is trained. The more that grasping is practiced, the more the connections between the neurons of this group of nerve cells are strengthened.

The red nucleus, a little investigated region of the brain

Grasping is a skill that can be trained and improved, even in adults. For muscles to perform a movement correctly, brain commands must be transmitted through the spinal cord. The red nucleus, which, over the years, has received little attention in brain research, plays an important role in fine motor coordination. Here the brain learns new fine motor skills for grasping and stores what it has learned.

Kelly Tan's team has now investigated the red nucleus in more detail in the mouse model and analyzed its structure and neuronal composition. "We have found that this brain region is very heterogeneous and consists of different neuron populations," says Giorgio Rizzi, first author of the study.

Improved fine motor skills through plastic changes in the brain

The research team has characterized one of these neuron populations and demonstrated that learning new grasping movements strengthens the connections between the individual neurons. "When learning new fine motor skills, the coordination of this specific movement is optimized and stored in the brain as a code," explains Tan. "Thus, we have been able to also demonstrate neuroplasticity in the red nucleus."

In a further step, the team now wants to investigate the stability of these strengthened nerve cell connections in the red nucleus and find out to what extent they regress when the learned fine motor movements are not practiced. The findings could also provide new insights into the understanding of Parkinson's disease, in which affected individuals suffer from motor disorders. The team hopes to find out whether the neuronal connections in the red nucleus have also changed in these patients and to what extent fine motor training can restrengthen the neuronal network.

Inhaling dangerous particulates is a hazard of coal mining, mold remediation, sandblasting ... and dentistry.

Fotinos Panagakos, associate dean of research at the West Virginia University School of Dentistry, is collaborating with a team at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health to study how microscopic, airborne particulates and gases might be generated during dental procedures. NIOSH--a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention--is funding the project.

"When a dentist is drilling into your tooth, they're using water with suction, so the suction system will capture most of the particulate matter. And if it does go into the air, they're wearing a mask that should prevent the moisture and particulates from going through," Panagakos said. "It's really all the other work that they do outside of the mouth--grinding things, polishing things, modifying appliances, pouring and trimming plaster, often without a suction system to pull particulates away, and many times not wearing any respiratory protection--that are of concern."

Pangakos and his collaborators--including Randall Nett and Brie Blackley, of NIOSH--are assessing how dental professionals come into contact with vapors, gases and airborne dusts in dental clinics. At five WVU teaching clinics and 29 private dental clinics that collaborate with the dental school's Department of Dental Practice and Rural Health, they will measure the size and concentration of particulates in real time during common dental procedures. They will also characterize the particulates' and gases' chemical composition. The samples they'll analyze are diverse: metals, dust, silica, volatile organic compounds and anesthetic gases.

Going beyond the clinics' workstations, the researchers will evaluate the ventilation at each clinic they visit. "In some smaller clinics, it could be that their setting is in a strip mall, say, and the ventilation systems have not been evaluated," said Blackley, a research industrial hygienist. "We will characterize not only the potential exposures that are present but what actions can be taken to mitigate them."

The impetus of the study was a cluster of dental professionals diagnosed with the same chronic lung condition--idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis--at a single Virginia clinic. IPF is characterized by scarring in the lungs. It makes patients progressively short of breath and can call for supplemental oxygen, mechanical ventilation or a lung transplant. It's commonly fatal within two to five years, and it has no cure.

"Idiopathic means we don't know what causes it," said Nett, who leads the Field Studies Branch of the NIOSH Respiratory Health Division and investigated the cluster of cases when it came to light. "That's part of the reason why we want to understand better what dental personnel are exposed to in the first place."

Sometimes the only personal protection dentists have in the lab is the surgical masks they wear when they treat patients. But "that mask is really not designed to eliminate the kind of particulate matter that eventually could cause this problem," Panagakos said.

Whatever the researchers discover, they plan to collaborate with the American Dental Association and the WVU School of Dentistry to share their results with dental professionals.

"We don't want to just point to a potential hazard and say, 'Here's a problem.' We want to be able to characterize exposures and recommend actions that dental personnel could take to protect themselves," Blackley said.

"If you're in a dental lab facility where a dental lab technician works, they probably have a higher level of preventive measures in place. Here at the Dental School, our labs are equipped along those lines," Panagakos said. "But if you're at a dental office, there's probably very little protection, if any."

Washington, DC - India accounts for the highest number of Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) cases and Hib- associated deaths in the world. The bacterial pathogen killed an estimated 15,600 Indian children aged 1-59 months in 2015. In a majority of cases, Hib causes pneumonia and bacterial meningitis, which can lead to long-term consequences in children under age five such as stunting, decreased productivity and schooling outcomes, and increased risk of other diseases. Hib immunization was incorporated into the pentavalent vaccine in India in 2011 and now protects 88 percent of Indian children under age two, although the Hib burden remains high. While the long-term negative effects of Hib infection in high-income countries are known, little evidence exists on the associated outcomes of Hib infection in low- and middle- income countries.

To investigate the associations between Hib vaccination status and anthropometric, cognitive, and schooling outcomes among Indian children, researchers examined Z-scores of height- for-age (HAZ) and BMI-for-age (BMIZ), percentage scores of English, mathematics, reading, and Peabody Picture Vocabulary tests, and highest schooling grade attainment among 1,824 Hib-vaccinated and unvaccinated children. Propensity score matching was used to control for systematic differences between the two groups.

Researchers analyzed data on reported vaccination receipts, household socioeconomic characteristics, and child anthropometric, cognitive, and schooling outcomes in India from a cohort of children enrolled in the Young Lives Survey (YLS), a longitudinal study assessing childhood poverty. Anthropometric, cognition, and schooling indicators were evaluated across Hib-vaccination groups using the 2013 and 2016 YLS surveys.

The study found that at ages 11-12 years, Hib-vaccinated children had significantly higher HAZ scores (an increase of 0.25, P

Overall, results indicate that Hib vaccination prior to age six is associated with improved long-term health, cognition, and schooling outcomes among children in India, which also implies an associated economic gain.

"Hib vaccination is a critical component of the pentavalent vaccine, which was introduced in 2011. Although we tend to focus on short term consequences of immunization, this study shows that the effect of Hib vaccination on schooling and cognitive development can be significant. Denying children vaccines is effectively denying them access to these benefits that persist through their lives" according to study co-author and CDDEP director, Ramanan Laxminarayan.

BINGHAMTON, NY - Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are more likely to experience bullying than children without ASD and this bullying gets worse with age, according to new research from Binghamton University, State University of New York.

Hannah Morton, a graduate student in the clinical psychology PhD program at Binghamton University, aimed to conceptualize bullying in children with ASD in order to specifically identify different bullying and behavior types. Her research also emphasizes the need to establish better definitions of bullying behaviors.

"This research is important because it contributes to our understanding of how bullying is nuanced," said Morton. "This variability means it is crucial to establish a definition for bullying and have standard assessments to know when and what types of bullying are occurring."

Morton, along with Binghamton psychologists Jennifer Gillis, Richard Mattson and Raymond Romanczyk, focused this study on teachers and parents of children with ASD, and community members without an ASD child. Participants took a survey containing 80 scenarios of interactions between two school-aged children. The scenarios varied from children ages four to fifteen. Sixty-four of these scenarios contained a type of bullying behavior (i.e. physical, verbal, interpersonal and cyber). The participants were randomly presented with 16 scenarios, and were asked to rate the severity of the interaction between the two children, as well as indicate which types of bullying were present.

Results showed that a child's increased age predicted higher bullying severity ratings. The findings also showed that bullying among older children with ASD is viewed as especially problematic by their parents, and that perceived bullying severity differed according to the type of bullying behavior (i.e., physical, verbal, interpersonal, and cyber). 

"This paper emphasizes that bullying is a really broad construct," said Morton. "What any two people might be referring to when they use the term 'bullying'--regardless if they are parents, teachers, researchers, etc.-- likely differs, and perhaps in subtle ways."

Morton plans to further her research on this topic by focusing specifically on the bullying behaviors that children with ASD experience compared to children without ASD.

This research was conducted through Binghamton University's Institute for Child Development, which offers early intervention services, speech services and more to children and families in the Binghamton region.

Farmers have been innovators and experimenters for millennia. They developed new types of crops and methods of farming.

Agronomic researchers - the scientists who study how our food is grown - have been working on their own fields. When they make new discoveries, they transfer the knowledge they've gained through workshops and publications to farmers.

A few decades ago, farmers and researchers began working together more closely. This "on-farm research" allows farmers a chance to work side-by-side with researchers. Collaborations like this allow for the testing of new agriculture products and methods in real-world conditions.

Laura Thompson and her team were interested to determine what motivated farmers to participate in on-farm research. So, their group at the University of Nebraska interviewed the 140 farmer-researchers in their network. The results, recently published in Agronomy Journal, can help future collaborations improve processes - and perhaps increase the number of farmers involved.

"Part of the goal was that we'd be able to document these experiences and motivations," says Thompson. "The hope is that it will provide some guidance to others who are looking to start these programs."

The Nebraska On-Farm Research Network started in 1990. Since then, participating farmers have taken a very active role. They conduct the research using their own equipment and resources. Conducting research on several farms allows for research in different environments versus a singular, university research station.

Farmers may also propose the research question. That was one of the motivators for participating. "We found that frequently their motivation was they wanted to find answers to a specific question," says Thompson.

Research topics focus directly on what's relevant to farmer-production questions. One example might be to compare the effects of two different fertilizers on crop production.

But, choosing the research question is often not solely the idea of the farmer or university educator. "We found that it was not so black and white usually," says Thompson. "Choosing research projects was really collaborative." Regardless of who came up with the question, the farmer's overall satisfaction with the program was not affected.

Throughout the research process itself, Nebraska faculty provide technical expertise for running experiments. They also analyzed data collected by farmers.

Having this opportunity to work so closely with university faculty throughout the season, says Thompson, is another motivation for farmers' participation in the program.

"One of my biggest take-aways was how much the farmers emphasized the relationships with people," says Thompson. "When we asked about their experience in research and what made it positive, the dominant reason they gave was the interaction with university people and other farmers."

This collaboration with the university also increased farmers' confidence in the results. They viewed the results as trustworthy and unbiased, regardless if the results were what they hoped for, says Thomson.

After the season, farmers, university faculty, and industry professionals attend an annual meeting to discuss their discoveries. Attendees also include farmers who did not participate in the program itself, but are interested in learning the results from their peers.

"Farmers doing the research are sharing the results with other people, and they often cited the reason for doing so was a desire to help other farmers," says Thompson. "So that's really powerful."

In addition to sharing their results with other farmers, farmer researchers also, for the most part, put their results into practice. Seventy-five percent of interviewees had put their research results into practice on their farm operation, either by making a change based on their results, or by not making a change as the research confirmed their current practice. And, they were noticing positive economic gain by doing so, says Thompson. The farmers interviewed expressed they had realized economic gains as a result of implementing their research findings. The farmers expressed this value as an amount saved (on average $15.43 per acre) or profit gained (on average $31.25 per acre).

When it comes to why farmers enjoyed participating in on-farm research, however, it's rooted in the peer-learning aspect.

"It's important to have feedback between farmers and researchers," says Thompson. "I think that as both farmers and researchers find value in on-farm research, these programs will continue to grow in the U.S. and internationally."

Annual European Congress of Rheumatology
(EULAR 2019)
Madrid, Spain, 12-15 June 2019

Madrid, Spain, 12 June 2019: The results of a 14 country pan-European survey presented today at the Annual European Congress of Rheumatology (EULAR 2019) suggest gout is being diagnosed late, is not well controlled, and is not regularly monitored.1

Gout is a very common condition. It is caused by deposits of crystals of a substance called uric acid (also known as urate) in the joints, which leads to inflammation. Periods of time when gout symptoms appear are called flares. Flares can be unpredictable and debilitating, developing over a few hours and causing severe pain in the joints.

The survey included 1,100 patients with gout and found a quarter were not diagnosed until they had four or more flares. Furthermore, over 70% had flares in the last year (a third of these had more than three). Less than half are monitored for serum uric acid two or more times a year and 59% do not have regular follow up appointments. Despite this, eight out of 10 patients claim they are satisfied with their current treatment and do not expect better management of their disease.1

"Our results demonstrate that, across Europe, gout has a significant impact on the lives of patients and their families. Although it is easily treatable, there are significant gaps in the current management of gout," said Marc de Meulemeester, general practitioner with a special interest in gout, Belgium. "This should be a call to action to educate patients and their doctors about adequate management of gout."

Results suggest that mainly general practitioners versus rheumatologists are involved in the diagnosis of the disease (73% vs. 8%), discussion of gout (68% vs. 15%), and treatment of the last gout flare (59% vs. 11%). Over three quarters of the patients suffered from co-morbidities such as high blood pressure (52%), high cholesterol (41%), and type II diabetes (23%). Regarding treatment, 58% receive uric acid lowering therapies, 43% painkillers, 25% colchicine, 13% non-medical pain relief and 12% corticosteroids.1

"Gout is a disabling condition with increasing incidence across Europe," said Professor John D. Isaacs, Chairperson of the Abstract Selection Committee, EULAR. "It is very disappointing to see that, despite effective treatments, gout is being sub-optimally managed, and patients are suffering as a result. The findings of this survey support the high unmet need of gout patients as described in the EULAR RheumaMap. Strategies need to be developed to improve the care of people with gout."

Consumption of sugary drinks is considered to be a key driver behind the global obesity epidemic, and is linked with tooth decay, diabetes and heart disease. Many public health bodies including the World Health Organization (WHO) have called upon governments, the food and drink industry, educational institutions, places of work and civil society to support healthier beverage choices.

This new Cochrane Review summarizes evidence from research studies testing different ways of reducing consumption of sugary drinks at a population level. A team of researchers from Germany and the UK looked at the results from 58 studies that assessed a range of approaches and strategies aimed at changing the physical or social environment where people consume or buy sugary drinks. The studies were done in a variety of settings, including schools, cafes, restaurants, homes, and retail outlets. The studies assessed a wide range of different approaches to reduce consumption such as labelling and pricing of sugar sweetened drinks and healthy alternatives. They also looked at broader policy initiatives such as community-based campaigns to encourage healthier choices. The studies were conducted in 19 different countries from North and South America, Australasia and Europe and South East Asia.

Within the broad categories of interventions studied, (labelling, nutrition standards, price increases and subsidies, home-based interventions, interventions aimed at the whole food supply, retail and food services, and intersectoral approaches such as food benefit programs and trade and investment policies), the certainty of the evidence for specific measures ranged from very low to moderate.

The review authors identified a number of measures which the available scientific evidence indicates reduces the amount of sugary drinks people drink. These measures included:

Labels that are easy to understand, such as 'traffic-light' labels, and labels that rate the healthiness of beverages with stars or numbers.

Limits to the availability of sugary drinks in schools.

Price increases on sugary drinks in restaurants, stores and leisure centres.

Children's menus in chain restaurants which include healthier beverages instead of sugary drinks as the default.

Promotion and better placement of healthier beverages in supermarkets.

Government food benefits (e.g. food stamps) which cannot be used to purchase sugary drinks.

Community campaigns focused on supporting healthy beverage choices.

Measures that improve the availability of low-calorie beverages at home, e.g. through home deliveries of bottled water and diet beverages.

The Cochrane authors also found evidence that improved availability of drinking water and diet beverages at home can help people lose weight. There are also other measures which may influence how much sugary drinks people drink, but for these the available evidence is less certain.

Past research has shown that health education and taxation of sugar-sweetened beverages can also help to reduce their consumption, but these approaches were not examined in the current review. Taxation of sugary drinks, unprocessed sugar and sugar-added foods will be examined in two future Cochrane Reviews.

Review author Hans Hauner, Professor of Nutritional Medicine at Technical University Munich, Germany, and a world-leading expert in the field, commented: "Rates of obesity and diabetes are rising globally, and this trend will not be reversed without broad and effective action. Governments and industry in particular must do their part to make the healthy choice the easy choice for consumers. This review highlights key measures that can help to accomplish this."

Review author Eva Rehfuess, Professor of Public Health and Health Services Research at LMU Munich, Germany, adds: "This review highlights essential building blocks for a comprehensive strategy to support healthy beverage choices for the whole population. However, we need to do more work to understand what works best in specific settings, such as schools and workplaces, for people of different socio-economic and cultural backgrounds, and in countries at different levels of economic development. This would help us to improve existing approaches further. Policy-makers and practitioners who implement such measures should therefore cooperate with researchers to allow for high-quality evaluations."

Review lead author Peter von Philipsborn, Research Associate at LMU Munich, Germany, said: "Sugary drinks are a global problem, and middle-income countries such as South Africa, Mexico and Brazil are particularly affected. The measures highlighted in this review should be considered by policy-makers worldwide."

Philadelphia, PA, June 12, 2019 - Mortality due to prostate cancer is usually related to its likelihood to metastasize, especially to bone. Prognostic biomarkers are urgently needed to predict disease aggression so that appropriate treatment can be selected. A report in The American Journal of Pathology, published by Elsevier, indicates that CCN3, a protein secreted into the extracellular matrix between cells, may be an important factor that promotes prostate cancer invasion of bone and may aid in identifying prostate cancer patients at higher risk of poor outcomes.

"Our work indicates that CCN3 functions to promote the formation of prostate cancer bone metastases and supports its use, after further validation, as a biomarker that predicts metastasis to bone," said lead investigator Peter M. Siegel, PhD, of the Goodman Cancer Research Centre, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.

Investigators analyzed prostate cancer specimens to assess CCN3 content and compare the levels to patients' clinical data. In the first series consisting of 285 patient specimens obtained from a biobank, high CCN3 expression (measured by histochemistry) correlated with shortened overall survival and the development of bone metastases at 10 years. The risk of dying from prostate cancer was also found to be greater in patients with high CCN3 expression.

A second group of tissue samples was acquired through five medical centers that belong to the Canadian Prostate Cancer Biomarker Network, which yielded 1,259 primary prostate cancer specimens. Findings were similar to those from the first group of samples, in this case using histofluorescence. Patients with the highest CCN3 expression were more likely to develop bone metastasis after 15 years and were more likely to develop biochemical relapse at three and five years compared to the low-CCN3 group. However, no significant differences in survival rates were found between CCN3-high and -low expressing groups. "Our results indicate that CCN3 expression correlates with aggressive disease and negatively correlates with the expression of prostate specific antigen (PSA), a marker of androgen receptor signaling," explained Dr. Siegel.

The investigators also measured CCN3 levels in different types of prostate cancer cells. They observed that CCN3 expression was highest in prostate cell lines known to form osteolytic (bone destroying) bone metastases in vivo and lowest in cell lines known to be less aggressive. The researchers also found that the C-terminal (CT) domain of the CCN3 protein, thought to be crucial to CCN3's role in cell proliferation, plays an important functional role in metastatic bone destruction.

CCN3, also known as nephroblastoma overexpressed gene (NOV), is a member of the CCN family of signaling proteins secreted into the extracellular matrix, which is the space outside of cells that supports cells, like a scaffold, and hosts intercellular communication. This family of proteins is thought to be involved in a wide range of biological processes, such as cell proliferation, motility, invasiveness, and angiogenesis (blood vessel formation). Other scientists have shown that CCN3 promotes breast cancer metastasis to bone.

"Our PC tissue microarray data confirms that CCN3 is positively correlated with prostate cancer aggressiveness and is not consistent with a tumor suppressor role for CCN3 in patients with prostate cancer. Our work supports further investigation of CCN3 as a prognostic biomarker to predict PC recurrence to bone," observed Dr. Siegel.

Portus Romae was established in the middle of the first century AD and for well over 400 years was Rome's gateway to the Mediterranean. The port played a key role in funnelling imports - e.g. foodstuffs, wild animals, marble and luxury goods - from across the Mediterranean and beyond to the citizens of Rome and was vital to the pre-eminence of the city in the Roman Mediterranean.

But, what of the people who lived, worked and died there?

In a study published today in Antiquity, an international team of researchers present the results of the analysis of plant, animal and human remains, reconstructing both the diets and geographic origins of the Portus inhabitants. The findings suggest that the political upheaval following the Vandal sack of Rome in AD 455 and the 6th century wars between the Ostrogoths and the Byzantines may have had a direct impact on the food resources and diet of those working at Portus Romae.

Lead author, Dr Tamsin O'Connell of the Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge said, "The human remains from the excavations at Portus belong to a local population involved in heavy, manual labour, perhaps the saccarii (porters) who unloaded cargoes from incoming ships. When looking isotopically at the individuals dating to between the early second to mid fifth centuries AD, we see that they have a fairly similar diet to the rich and middle-class people buried at the Isola Sacra cemetery just down the road. It is interesting that although there are differences in social status between these burial populations, they both have access to similar food resources. This contradicts what we see elsewhere in the Roman world at this time. But, later on, something changes."

Dr O'Connell continues, "Towards the end of the mid fifth century we see a shift in the diet of the local populations away from one rich in animal protein and imported wheat, olive oil, fish sauce and wine from North Africa, to something more akin to a 'peasant diet', made up of mainly plant proteins in things like potages and stews. They're doing the same kind of manual labour and hard work, but were sustained by beans and lentils"

"This is the time period after the sack of the Vandals in AD 455. We're seeing clear shifts in imported foods and diet over time that tie-in with commercial and political changes following the breakdown of Roman control of the Mediterranean. We are able to observe political effects playing out in supply networks. The politics and the resources both shift at the same time."

Director of the University of Southampton's Portus Project, Professor Simon Keay explained, "Our excavations at the centre of the port provide the first archaeological evidence of the diet of the inhabitants of Portus at a critical period in the history of Imperial Rome. They tell us that by the middle of the 5th century AD, the outer harbour basin was silting up, all of the buildings were enclosed within substantial defensive walls, that the warehouses were used for the burial of the dead rather than for storage, and that the volume of trade that passed through the port en route to Rome had contracted dramatically."

"These developments may have been in some way related to the destruction wrought upon Portus and Rome by invading Vandals led by Gaiseric in AD 455, but may also be related to decreasing demand by the City of Rome, whose population had shrunk significantly by this date. These conclusions help us better understand major changes in patterns of production and trade across the Mediterranean that have been detected in recent years."

Dr O'Connell concludes, "Are food resources and diets shaped by political ruptures? In the case of Portus, we see that when Rome was rich everybody, from the local elite to the dockworkers, was doing fine nutritionally. Then this big political rupture happens and wheat and other foodstuffs have to come from somewhere else. When Rome is on the decline, the manual labourers, at least, are not doing as well as previously."

Must Farm, an extraordinarily well-preserved Late Bronze Age settlement in Cambridgeshire, in the East of England, drew attention in national and international media in 2016 as 'Britain's Pompeii' or the 'Pompeii of the Fens'. The major excavation was funded by Historic England and Forterra Building Products Ltd, which owns the Must Farm quarry.

Now for the first time, published today in Antiquity, archaeologists from the Cambridge Archaeological Unit present a definitive timeframe to Must Farm's occupation and destruction.

Site Director Mark Knight says, "It is likely that the settlement existed for only one year prior to its destruction in a catastrophic fire. The short history of Must Farm, combined with the excellent preservation of the settlement, means that we have an unparalleled opportunity to explore the daily life of its inhabitants."

Living in the Fens

Must Farm is located within the silts of a slow-flowing freshwater river, with stilted structures built to elevate the living quarters above the water. This palaeochannel (dating from 1700-100 BC) was active for centuries prior to the construction of Must Farm (approx. 1100-800 cal BC), and a causeway was built across the river.

"Although excavation of the river sediments associated with the causeway was limited, stratigraphically we can demonstrate that the that the causeway and the settlement are chronologically unconnected. The people who built the settlement, however, would have been able to see the rotting tops of the causeway piles during the time of the settlement's construction," Knight continues.

Excavations between 2009 and 2012 revealed the remains of nine logboats in the palaeochannel, in addition to fish weirs and fish traps - further evidence of the long history of occupation in the landscape.

Prehistoric Houses

The Must Farm houses are the 'most completely preserved prehistoric domestic structures found in Britain', visible as 'hundreds of uprights or pile stumps, which together define the outline and internal settings of at least five stilted structures' enclosed by a palisade with an internal walkway.

The architecture reflects the conventions of the prehistoric British roundhouse, located in an unusual wetland setting. Uniquely, there is no evidence of repair to the structures, and strikingly, dendrochronological analysis has suggested that the timbers were still green when destroyed by fire.

The structures collapsed vertically, and the heavy roofs brought everything down with them into the sediment of the channel. A tragedy for the inhabitants, but serendipitous for archaeologists, as the fluvial silts have preserved 'wooden artefacts, pottery sets, bronze tools and weapons, fabrics and fibres, querns, loom weights, spindle whorls, animal remains, plants and seeds, coprolites...'

A Year in the Life

Must Farm represents a routine dwelling in a rarely excavated fenland setting, which is incredibly valuable. It shows the typical patterns of consumption and deposition for this kind of site.

The team of archaeologists found over 180 fibre/textile items, 160 wooden artefacts, 120 pottery vessels, 90 pieces of metal work, and at least 80 glass beads.

Some of the plant and animal remains found at Must Farm are rare for this period in British prehistory, including pike bones, sheep/goat dung, and currently unidentified entire charred tubers. Strikingly, most of the food sources, including wild boar and deer, are not from the wetlands.

Knight concludes, "We are only in the early stages of investigating the vast quantity of material from Must Farm, material which promises to reveal many more fascinating aspects of life in the fens 3,000 years ago."