2020 list of UK's richest shows first fall in wealth in decade

THEY ARE STILL THE RICHEST MEN IN THE UK

AFP/File / Christophe ARCHAMBAULT

British inventor James Dyson, founder of the Dyson company, topped the Sunday Times rich list for the first time (AND HE LIVES IN SINGAPORE)

Britain's wealthiest people have lost tens of billions of pounds in the coronavirus pandemic as their combined annual wealth fell for the first time in a decade, the Sunday Times reported in its Rich List 2020.

The newspaper, which has produced the respected annual ranking of the country's 1,000 wealthiest people since 1989, found the past two months had resulted in the super-rich losing £54 billion ($65 billion, 60 billion euros).

More than half of the billionaires in Britain had seen drops in their worth by as much as £6bn, a decrease in their collective wealth unprecedented since 2009 and the financial crisis.

Inventor James Dyson bucked the trend to top the list for the first time, with an estimated wealth of £16.2bn.

The paper credited his rise from fifth place in 2019 to both the strong performance of his businesses and the plummeting fortunes of other billionaires in the top 10.

The Hinduja brothers, who topped last year's list with a £22bn fortune, saw among the biggest falls in worth -- £6bn -- and are now ranked jointly second with entrepreneurs David and Simon Reuben.

Jim Ratcliffe, boss of petrochemicals firm Ineos, who topped the rankings in 2018, also saw his worth slide by £6bn to £12.15bn.

Steel baron Lakshmi Mittal was another to see the steepest falls in his fortune -- nearly £4bn -- placing him 19th with a worth of £6.78bn.

In total, the 2020 list calculated the combined wealth of Britain's super-rich to be £743bn -- £29bn less than last year.

- Billionaire capital of the world -

Its number of billionaires dropped by four to 147 but London remains the billionaire capital of the world, with 89 born, living or with a significant chunk of their assets based in the city.

"The first detailed analysis of the super-rich's finances since the COVID-19 outbreak began will heighten concerns that Britain is entering a deep and long-lasting recession," the Sunday Times said.

AFP/File / STRThe Hinduja brothers Sri (L) and Gopi saw their fortune fall more than $7 billion


The paper noted at least 63 members of the list, including 20 billionaires, have sought to use a government-run furlough scheme which pays staff up to 80 percent of their salaries up to £2,500 a month during the crisis.

They include London-based Sri and Gopi Hinduja, owners of the sprawling Hinduja Group of companies, who have furloughed around 360 employees at Optare, their bus-making firm based in northern England.

Ratcliffe co-owns The Pig hotel chain, which has furloughed most of its staff, while he is also seeking an emergency loan from the government for a joint venture between Ineos and the Chinese state-owned PetroChina.

Carys Roberts, executive director of the Institute for Public Policy Research, told the Sunday Times their use of the taxpayer-funded schemes was highly questionable.

"Why can't they now dip into their own deep pockets instead of asking ordinary families to do so for them?" she said.

- Rich List 2020 top 10 -

£16.2bn -- James Dyson and family

£16bn -- Sri and Gopi Hinduja and family

£16bn -- David and Simon Reuben

£15.8bn -- Leonard Blavatnik

£12.2bn -- Jim Ratcliffe

£12.1bn -- Kirsten and Jorn Rausing

£11.7bn -- Alisher Usmanov

£10.5bn -- Guy, George and Galen Jr Weston and family

£10.3bn -- Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken and Michel de Carvalho

£10.3bn -- The Duke of Westminster and the Grosvenor family

Spraying disinfectants can be 'harmful', says WHO    DUH OH

AFP/File / ISHARA S. KODIKARAFirefighters spray disinfectant to sanitize a road as a preventive measure against the coronavirus in Colombo, Sri Lanka on May 10

Spraying disinfectant on the streets, as practised in some countries, does not eliminate the new coronavirus and even poses a health risk, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Saturday.

In a document on cleaning and disinfecting surfaces as part of the response to the virus, the WHO says spraying can be ineffective.

"Spraying or fumigation of outdoor spaces, such as streets or marketplaces, is... not recommended to kill the COVID-19 virus or other pathogens because disinfectant is inactivated by dirt and debris," explains the WHO.

"Even in the absence of organic matter, chemical spraying is unlikely to adequately cover all surfaces for the duration of the required contact time needed to inactivate pathogens."

The WHO said that streets and pavements are not considered as "reservoirs of infection" of COVID-19, adding that spraying disinfectants, even outside, can be "dangerous for human health".

The document also stresses that spraying individuals with disinfectants is "not recommended under any circumstances".

"This could be physically and psychologically harmful and would not reduce an infected person’s ability to spread the virus through droplets or contact," said the document.

Spraying chlorine or other toxic chemicals on people can cause eye and skin irritation, bronchospasm and gastrointestinal effects, it adds.

The organisation is also warning against the systematic spraying and fumigating of disinfectants on to surfaces in indoor spaces, citing a study that has shown it to be ineffective outside direct spraying areas.

"If disinfectants are to be applied, this should be done with a cloth or wipe that has been soaked in disinfectant," it says.

The SARS-CoV-2 virus, the cause of the pandemic that has killed more than 300,000 people worldwide since its appearance in late December in China, can attach itself to surfaces and objects.

However, no precise information is currently available for the period during which the viruses remain infectious on the various surfaces.

Studies have shown that the virus can stay on several types of surfaces for several days. However, these maximum durations are only theoretical because they are recorded under laboratory conditions and should be "interpreted with caution" in the real-world environment.

The exposome: When our environment drives health and disease

Take two: Science publishes two papers on effects of unknown chemicals

UNIVERSITY OF LUXEMBOURG

 

IMAGE: EXPOSOME ILLUSTRATION (ENGLISH). view more 

CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF LUXEMBOURG

Science, has published in its January issue two papers by Associate Prof. Emma Schymanski, Head of the Environmental Cheminformatics research group at the University of Luxembourg. This is a glowing acknowledgement of the relevance of the research focus of her team: developing methods to identify unknown chemicals and their effects on health and disease.

In the two contributions to Science, Prof. Schymanski and her co-authors present the exposome, a recent concept aiming to capture the diversity of environmental factors that can affect us. They also summarise new technological advances and analytical tools used to identify chemicals and understand their impact.

The sum of all environmental factors

The exposome is the sum of all the environmental drivers of health and diseases: a combination of external factors such as chemicals contained in the air, water or food, and of internal components produced by our organism in response to various stress factors. This very complex set of elements is continually evolving, and to map it fully is a challenging undertaking. A first paper1 describes recent progress that will help with this task, such as the development of high-resolution mass spectrometry, a technology that can detect tens of thousands of compounds in biological and environmental samples. Associated with growing databases on all known chemicals and powerful computational tools to analyse large amounts of data, these recent technological advances could revolutionise environmental monitoring.

A complex network of chemicals

This first paper also highlights that a network approach is needed to take into account the large number of chemical exposures in our daily lives and the complex way they interact with our cells. This is why the second review2 describes ways to characterise groups of chemicals in diverse samples, from water and soil to biological tissues, and to identify mixtures that pose a combined risk. "Innovative sampling techniques such as hand wipes or silicon bracelets can be used to measure personal exposure," Prof. Schymanski explains. "We also mentioned the importance of non-targeted analyses to identify unknown contaminants and showed the potential of in-vitro bioassays to assess the toxicity of complex mixtures, even if chemical identities remain unknown."

"Both papers are a call for a research effort at a scale comparable to what was done for the human genome, to get in-depth knowledge of the cocktail of substances we are exposed to and their intricate interactions with living organisms," Prof. Schymanski points out.

There are still many challenges ahead: databases have to be harmonised and made fully accessible, statistical tools need refining in order to account for the constellation of chemicals coming from related sources, and methodologies should be standardised. But despite the difficulties, the perspectives are tremendous.

Need for research on environmental quality and health

According to the European environment -- state and outlook 2020, we face environmental challenges of unprecedented scale. The number of new chemicals has risen from 20 to 156 million from 2002 and 2019. Pesticides, industrial chemicals and pharmaceuticals can enter the environment and the food chain, possibly causing unwanted effects and disease. Medical research estimates that every year nine million deaths are related to pollution. This highlights the need for research to address the chemical complexity of our world and elucidate the multiple links between environmental quality and health.

Just like large scale genomic studies allowed the detection of many genetic variations linked to diseases, the implementation of exposome-wide association studies with hundreds of thousands of participants would help identify the strongest chemical risk factors and understand their impact on individual health. It will enable the establishment of environmental risk scores, which could be used to develop individual prevention and treatment strategies. "On top of providing crucial information for individual patients, research on the exposome will also support the necessary shift in existing policies," Prof. Schymanski says. By helping regulatory bodies to focus on the chemicals with the most adverse effect and elucidating their combined effect, it will help minimise the impact on our health and on the ecosystems we live in. LCSB director Prof. Rudi Balling concludes: "We are proud that with Prof. Schymanski, Luxembourg is now at the forefront of this exciting and significant research field."

###

1 The exposome and health: where chemistry meets biology: DOI: 10.1126/science.aay3164

2 Tracking Complex Mixtures of Chemicals in our Changing Environment: DOI: 10.1126/science.aay6636

Prof Emma Schymanski. Industrial chemical plant

New functions of a protein may improve biocontrol methods in sustainable agriculture

The study has been conducted at 'BacBio', a laboratory of the University of Malaga (UMA) that specializes in the research on bacteria-plant interactions

UNIVERSITY OF MALAGA

IMAGE: NEW FUNCTIONS OF A PROTEIN MAY IMPROVE BIOCONTROL METHODS IN SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE view more 

CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF MALAGA

The laboratory of the UMA "BacBio" has proved that Bacillus subtilis cells, when deprived of an amyloid protein (TasA), exhibit a range of cytological anomalies and dysfunctions leading to their premature death. A discovery that enables progress to be made in understanding the role of these proteins, widely distributed in the microbial world, and helps improve biological control methods in sustainable agriculture. This research has been recently published in the scientific journal Nature Communications.

The UMA research team has particularly evidenced how this amyloid protein TasA, required for the assembly of the bacterial communities known as "biofilms", also prevents bacterial cell death, but preserving cell membrane integrity. "That is: we observed a complementary role in these proteins in addition to their merely structural role", explains the main author of this study, the researcher Diego Romero, who is also a member of the Institute for Mediterranean and Subtropical Horticulture "La Mayora" (IHSM), a joint research institute of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the UMA.

According to the expert, this dual functionality is reflected in bacterial attachment to plant surfaces, where the protein contributes to combat pathogen attack and improve bacterial fitness. "We aim to boost its use in sustainable models of crop production and protection", says the Professor of the UMA Department of Microbiology.

Thus, this study has worked on the bacterium Bacillus subtilis placing emphasis on two aspects: the study of its molecular bases, that lead to the formation of bacterial communities known as "biofilms", and how these biofilms contribute to the beneficial activity of Bacillus as biocontrol agents in sustainable agriculture models.

The amyloids: dual functionality

Amyloids are proteins primarily known for its relation to degenerative diseases in human beings. In fact, "amyloidosis", an ailment caused by amyloid accumulation in organs or tissues, is named after them. However, as noted by this research, amyloid proteins (TasA among them) have the ability to adopt a great variety of purposes in nature, reason why they are called functional amyloids.

"The fact that these proteins are widely distributed in the microbial world entails the possibility that they might play a role in other bacterial species stabilizing cell integrity, or at least a different and complementary role to that initially observed in each of these systems", clarifies Romero.

The expert states that the importance of these results is twofold. From the agrobiotechnological point of view, it allows researchers to better understand the behaviour of beneficial bacteria, hence, improve and reinforce its use in sustainable production and protection programmes. On the other hand, from the microbial point of view, where amyloid proteins are highly distributed, a new target has been identified to be attacked should they wish to harm pathogenic microorganisms.

###

The study has been supported by funding granted by the European Research Council (ERC-StG programme), which promotes top-quality research projects, and the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness.

BacBio Laboratory, located in the Bioinnovation building of the UMA, has been studying bacteria physiology and their interaction with the environment since 2013. Plants are another priority line of research, particularly, the Cucurbitaceae, a plant family which comprises melon and cucumber.

Bibliography:

Cámara-Almirón, J., Navarro, Y., Díaz-Martínez, L. et al. Dual functionality of the amyloid protein TasA in Bacillus physiology and fitness on the phylloplane. Nat Commun 11, 1859 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-15758-z

Global spread of the multi-resistant pathogen Stenotrophomonas maltophilia

GERMAN CENTER FOR INFECTION RESEARCH

IMAGE: SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPIC IMAGE OF STENOTROPHOMONAS MALTOPHILIA. view more 

CREDIT: E. ABDA & I. ALIO/ MIKROBIOLOGIE, UNIVERSITÄT HAMBURG

S. maltophilia strains occur in several natural and human associated ecosystems. The bacterium was long regarded as relatively unproblematic but is now considered to be one of the most feared hospital pathogens, as it frequently causes infections and is resistant to a number of antibiotics. This can be particularly dangerous for immune-compromised patients or for patients with underlying inflammatory lung diseases such as cystic fibrosis. Although almost any organ can be affected, infections of the respiratory tract, bacteraemia or catheter-related infections of the bloodstream are the most common. In view of the increasing importance of this pathogen and the often-severe clinical consequences of an infection, knowledge about the virulence factors and about the local and global transmission of S. maltophilia bacteria is urgently needed.

Scientists from a total of eight countries initially established a genotyping method that enables the standardised analysis of the different genomes of S. maltophilia strains. The DZIF teams around Prof. Stefan Niemann (FZB), Prof. Jan Rupp, (Clinic of Infectiology and Microbiology, Campus Lübeck) and Prof. Ulrich Nübel from the Leibniz Institute DSMZ (German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GmbH ) in Braunschweig were involved.

The scientists found that the S. maltophilia complex can be divided into a total of 23 lineages with different prevalence levels. One particular line of descent appeared worldwide and had the highest rate of human-associated strains. This "Sm6" strain was also characterised by the presence of key virulence genes and resistance genes. "This suggests that a specific gene configuration may promote the spread of different S. maltophilia subtypes in the hospital setting, i.e. under antimicrobial treatment," says Matthias Gröschel, lead author of the study.

Transmission analysis also identified several potential outbreak events of genetically closely related strains that were isolated within days or weeks in the same hospitals. "Combined with studies on other pathogens, our results show how systematic genome-based monitoring of S. maltophilia and other pathogens in hospital settings can help detect transmission pathways and improve infection control," Thom

Scientists report on crucial reduction of Indian lion genome diversity

Modern bioinformatics allows us to take a look into the past and find out when certain species diverged during evolution, which of them still are genetically close to each other, and which are not

ITMO UNIVERSITY

Modern bioinformatics allows us to take a look into the past and find out when certain species diverged during evolution, which of them still are genetically close to each other, and which are not. An international team of researchers, which, among others, includes the academic supervisor of ITMO University's Laboratory of Genomic Diversity and researchers from the University of Copenhagen, Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, and other research centers from all over the world, analyzed the genomes of extinct and living lions. They managed to determine when the divergence took place, as well as come to several other conclusions on genetic diversity of the modern lion population in India. The results are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

Lions are one of the most powerful and dangerous predators on the planet. Many cities and countries use lion images on their coats of arms as a symbol of power and strength.

However, according to scientists, nowadays lions are in great danger of extinction. In the last two centuries, a 90% reduction in the population took place. During the last 150 years, Cape and Barbary lions were exterminated. Today, apart from zoos, you can meet these animals only in Western and Central Africa, as well as in the Gir National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary, Gujarat, India. To comprehend the process of reduction in the lion population and prevent their extinction, scientists need to answer several questions considering their evolution history.

An international research team, which includes specialists from different countries and continents, as well as Stephen O'Brian, the academic supervisor of ITMO University's Laboratory of Genomic Diversity, has analyzed the remains of cave lions kept in museums and found during paleontological expeditions. The results of the analysis were compared with those of modern lions. It was concluded that cave lions and modern species diverged about 500,000 years ago.

The scientists have also discovered that lion ancestors which used to live in Central and Western Africa diverged from the ancestors of subspecies that used to inhabit Northern Africa, and now inhabit India, about 70,000 years ago. A quite popular myth about lions being artificially brought to India in the pre-colonial era is therefore proved to be false.

This research may have a direct impact on the attempts of the restoration of the Northern-African lion population. If the scientists manage to determine the closest relatives of Barbary subspecies, it will make the restoration more scientifically substantiated and possibly more successful. All the more so due to the fact that in various zoos there are animals which are considered to be derived from Barbary lions gifted to Moroccan rulers in the 19th century.

One of the important conclusions that the scientists came to is that there is no clear evidence that cave lions, which went extinct 10,000-15,000 years ago, or Cape and Barbary lions, which went extinct recently, had a problem with genetic diversity. It means that their extinction evidently was not caused by degeneration and accumulation of deleterious mutations in the population.

However, the reduction in genome diversity can be clearly detected in the modern population of Indian lions. As they have been living in a comparatively small area for centuries, inbreeding often took place. This resulted in cranial defects, low sperm count and testosterone levels, as well as smaller manes. These facts should be taken into consideration during the attempts to save the Indian lion population from extinction.

"The obtained results demonstrate the power given to us by the era of genome research. We can apply it to discover the secrets of the past by reading the fragments of DNA taken from modern species' ancestors. Apart from that, a troubling reduction in Indian lion genetic material was proved," Stephen O'Brien concludes.

The carnivorous plant lifestyle is gene costly

UNIVERSITY OF WÜRZBURG

IMAGE: THE GENOMES OF THE CARNIVOROUS PLANTS VENUS FLYTRAP, SPOON-LEAVED SUNDEW AND WATERWHEEL (FROM LEFT) ARE DECODED. view more 

CREDIT: (PICTURE: DIRK BECKER AND SÖNKE SCHERZER / UNIVERSITY OF WÜRZBURG)

Plants can produce energy-rich biomass with the help of light, water and carbon dioxide. This is why they are at the beginning of the food chains. But the carnivorous plants have turned the tables and hunt animals. Insects are their main food source.

A publication in the journal Current Biology now sheds light on the secret life of the green carnivores. The plant scientist Rainer Hedrich and the evolutionary bioinformatician Jörg Schultz, both from Julius-Maximilians-Universität (JMU) Würzburg in Bavaria, Germany, and their colleague Mitsujasu Hasebe from the University of Okazaki (Japan) have deciphered and analysed the genomes of three carnivorous plant species.

They studied the Venus flytrap Dionaea muscipula, which originates from North America, the globally occurring waterwheel plant Aldrovanda vesiculosa and the spoon-leaved sundew Drosera spatulata, which is widely distributed in Asia.

All three belong to the sundew family. Nevertheless, they have each conquered different habitats and developed their own trapping mechanisms. In Dionaea and Aldrovanda, the ends of the leaves are transformed into folding traps. The sundew, on the other hand, attaches its prey to the leaf surface with sticky tentacles.

Basic genes for carnivory

The first thing the international research team found out was that, despite their different lifestyles and trapping mechanisms, Venus flytrap, sundew and waterwheel have a common "basic set" of genes that are essential for the carnivorous lifestyle.

"The function of these genes is related to the ability to sense and digest prey animals and to utilise their nutrients," explains Rainer Hedrich.

"We were able to trace the origin of the carnivory genes back to a duplication event that occurred many millions of years ago in the genome of the last common ancestor of the three carnivorous species," says Jörg Schultz. The duplication of the entire genome has provided evolution with an ideal playing ground for developing new functions.

Genetic poverty despite a special way of life

To their surprise, the researchers discovered that the plants do not need a particularly large number of genes for carnivory. Instead, the three species studied are actually among the most gene-poor plants known. Drosera has 18,111, Dionaea 21,135 and Aldrovanda 25,123 genes. In contrast, most plants have between 30,000 and 40,000 genes.

How can this be reconciled with the fact that a wealth of new genes is usually needed to develop new ways of life? "This can only mean that the specialization in animal food was accompanied by an increase in the number of genes, but also a massive loss of genes," concludes developmental biologist Hasebe.

Root genes are active in the trapping organs

Most of the genes required for the insect traps are also found in slightly modified form in normal plants. "In carnivorous plants, several genes are active in the trapping organs, which in other plants have their effect in the root. In the trapping organs, these genes are only switched on when the prey is secure," explains Hedrich. This finding is consistent with the fact that the roots are considerably reduced in Venus flytrap and sundew. In the waterwheel they are completely absent.

Further research into the trapping function

The researchers now have an insight into the evolution of carnivory in plants and hold three blueprints for this particular way of life in their hands. Their next goal is to gain an even better understanding of the molecular basis of the trapping function.

"We have found that the Venus flytrap counts the electrical stimuli triggered by the prey, can remember this number for a certain time and finally makes a decision that corresponds to the number," says Hedrich. Now it is important to understand the biophysical-biochemical principle according to which carnivorous plants count.

Catnip's chemical attractant is new twist on old family tradition

FLORIDA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

L

IMAGE: CATNIP EVOLVED ITS CAT-ATTRACTING CHEMICAL, ACTUALLY AN INSECT REPELLANT, TENS OF MILLIONS OF YEARS AFTER ONE OF ITS ANCESTORS HAD LOST THE ABILITY TO MAKE THIS TYPE OF COMPOUND. view more 

CREDIT: ALEX ABAIR

GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- Catnip is most famous for its ability to launch felines into a euphoric frenzy, but the origin of its cat-attracting chemical is a remarkable example of evolutionary innovation.

While the compound nepetalactone drives two-thirds of cats batty, likely by mimicking sex pheromones, its real purpose is protecting catnip from pests. Nepetalactone belongs to a class of chemicals called iridoids, which can repel insects as effectively as DEET.

Many of catnip's relatives in the mint family use iridoids as chemical armor. But an international team of researchers found the ancient ancestor of catnip lost a key iridoid-making gene. Descendants in this lineage - herbs such as basil, oregano, rosemary, lemon balm and mint - had to lean on other defenses, with one notable exception: catnip, which revived the family tradition by evolving a new iridoid production line from scratch.

The findings, including the first detailed look at catnip's nepetalactone recipe, were published today in Science Advances. They provide crucial insights into how plants lose and regain defensive compounds, said study co-author Pamela Soltis, Florida Museum of Natural History curator and University of Florida distinguished professor.

"If we know how evolutionarily flexible a trait is, we can hypothesize about how easy or difficult it might be to modify the trait in another species through plant breeding, genetic engineering or gene editing," she said. "It might be possible to make a crop more resistant to pests if we know that a close relative re-evolved a compound that had previously been lost."

Many plants in the mint family also have medicinally important compounds, said study co-author Douglas Soltis, Florida Museum curator and UF distinguished professor, pointing to iridoid-derived cancer treatments as an example.

"Understanding these plants' underlying biochemical pathways is key to using them for human health," he said.

Researchers sequenced the genomes of two species of catnip and hyssop, a close relative that does not produce iridoids. By comparing the genomes, analyzing the mint family tree and studying ancestral genes and enzymes, they were able to trace the sequence of events that led to the loss of iridoid production in catnip's ancestor between 55-65 million years ago and its re-emergence tens of millions of years later.

The deletion of a gene erased the ability of plants in the subfamily Nepetoideae to make iridoids. Whether the gene deletion was the result of a sudden mutation or a gradual "phasing out" of iridoid production as these plants switched to other chemical defenses remains unclear, Pamela Soltis said.

Without this gene, catnip had to co-opt a related gene to build a new biochemical pathway for making iridoids, beginning about 20 million years ago, Douglas Soltis said.

"It's sort of like, 'I lost my screwdriver, and this one isn't quite the same, but it will work,'" he said, quoting "Jurassic Park" character Ian Malcolm: "'Life, uh, finds a way.'"

The new pathway resulted in nepetalactone, which maintains some hallmark iridoid features, but has a unique chemical structure and properties, the researchers said. The enzymes involved in its production are not found in any related plant species.

"There is a lot of evolutionary back-and-forth in all sorts of characteristics in plants - such as the origin of succulence in cacti, jade plants and aloe, or multiple derivations of red or purple pigments in distantly related species," Pamela Soltis said. "But whenever the 'same' thing re-evolves, it always turns out that it has done so slightly differently - always with a 'twist.'"

Why catnip re-evolved the ability to produce iridoids is "the next big question," Douglas Soltis said.

"As the mint family migrated across Eurasia, semi-arid habitats could have imposed new selective pressures," he said. "Maybe iridoids are more effective as defense compounds in those environments. That can't explain the origin of the new pathway, but it can explain the selection for it once it originates."

###

The study is part of the Mint Genome Project, a National Science Foundation-funded initiative that is unravelling the chemistry of the mint family's botanical compounds and how they're produced.

"Plants are constantly evolving new chemistry," said the study's lead researcher Sarah O'Connor, director of the Department of Natural Product Biosynthesis at Germany's Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology. "With our research, we would like to get snapshots of this evolution in action."

Grant Godden, Tal Kinser and Miao Sun of the Florida Museum also co-authored the study.

Further evidence does not support hydroxychloroquine for patients with

COVID-19

Adverse events were more common in those receiving the drug

BMJ

 

The anti-inflammatory drug hydroxychloroquine does not significantly reduce admission to intensive care or death in patients hospitalised with pneumonia due to covid-19, finds a study from France published by The BMJ today.

A randomised clinical trial from China also published today shows that hospitalised patients with mild to moderate persistent covid-19 who received hydroxychloroquine did not clear the virus more quickly than those receiving standard care. Adverse events were higher in those who received hydroxychloroquine.

Taken together, the results do not support routine use of hydroxychloroquine for patients with covid-19.

Hydroxychloroquine can reduce inflammation, pain, and swelling, and is widely used to treat rheumatic diseases. It is also used as an anti-malarial drug. Lab tests showed promising results, but accumulating trial and observational evidence has called into question whether there are any meaningful clinical benefits for patients with covid-19.

Despite this, hydroxychloroquine has already been included in Chinese guidelines on how best to manage the disease, and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an emergency use authorization to allow the drug to be provided to certain hospitalized patients. The FDA has since warned against use outside clinical trials or hospital settings due to the risk of heart rhythm problems.

In the first study, researchers in France assessed the effectiveness and safety of hydroxychloroquine compared with standard care in adults admitted to hospital with pneumonia due to covid-19 who needed oxygen.

Of 181 patients, 84 received hydroxychloroquine within 48 hours of admission and 97 did not (control group).

They found no meaningful differences between the groups for transfer to intensive care, death within 7 days, or developing acute respiratory distress syndrome within 10 days.

The researchers say that caution is needed in the interpretation of their results, but that their findings do not support the use of hydroxychloroquine in patients hospitalised with covid-19 pneumonia.

In the second study, researchers in China assessed the effectiveness and safety of hydroxychloroquine compared with standard care in 150 adults hospitalised with mainly mild or moderate covid-19.

Patients were randomly split into two groups. Half received hydroxychloroquine in addition to standard care and the others received standard care only (control group).

By day 28, tests revealed similar rates of covid-19 in the two groups but adverse events were more common in those who received hydroxychloroquine. Symptom alleviation and time to relief of symptoms also did not differ meaningfully between the two groups.

While further work is needed to confirm these results, the authors say that their findings do not support the use of hydroxychloroquine to treat patients with persistent mild to moderate covid-19.

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Peer reviewed? Yes
Evidence type: Observational comparative study; Randomised controlled trial
Subjects: Patients with covid-19

Cahokia's rise parallels onset of corn agriculture

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN, NEWS BUREAU

 

IMAGE: CORN CULTIVATION BEGAN IN THE VICINITY OF THE CITY OF CAHOKIA BETWEEN A.D. 900 AND 1000, RESEARCHERS REPORT IN A NEW STUDY. ITS ARRIVAL MAY HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO THE ABRUPT... view more 

CREDIT: GRAPHIC BY DIANA YATES

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Corn cultivation spread from Mesoamerica to what is now the American Southwest by about 4000 B.C., but how and when the crop made it to other parts of North America is still a subject of debate. In a new study, scientists report that corn was not grown in the ancient metropolis of Cahokia until sometime between A.D. 900 and 1000, a relatively late date that corresponds to the start of the city's rapid expansion.

The findings are published in the journal American Antiquity.

The research team determined the age of charred corn kernels found in homes, shrines and other archaeological contexts in and around Cahokia. The researchers also looked at carbon isotopes in the teeth and bones of 108 humans and 15 dogs buried in the vicinity.

Carbon-isotope ratios differ among food sources, with isotope ratios of corn being significantly higher than those of almost all other native plant species in the region. By analyzing the ratio of carbon 12 to carbon 13 in teeth and bones, the team determined the relative proportion of different types of foods the people of Cahokia ate in different time periods.

The corn remnants and isotope analyses revealed that corn consumption began in Cahokia between 900 and 1000. This was just before the city grew into a major metropolis.

"There's been an idea that corn came to the central Mississippi River valley at about the time of Christ, and the evolution of maize in this part of the world was really, really slow," said retired state archaeologist Thomas Emerson, who led the study. "But this Cahokia data is saying that no, actually, corn arrived here very late. And in fact, corn may be the foundation of the city."

The research team included Illinois State Archaeological Survey archaeobotanist Mary Simon; bioarchaeologist Kristin Hedman; radiocarbon dating analyst Matthew Fort; and former graduate student Kelsey Witt, now a postdoctoral researcher at Brown University.

Beginning in about 1050, Cahokia grew from "a little village of a few hundred people to part of a city with 5,000 to 10,000 people in an archaeological instant," Emerson said. The population eventually expanded to at least 40,000. This early experiment in urban living was short-lived, however. By 1350, after a period of drought and civil strife, most of the city's population had dispersed.

Scientists who theorize that corn came to the central Mississippi River valley early in the first millennium A.D. are overlooking the fact that the plant had to adapt to a completely different light and temperature regime before it could be cultivated in the higher latitudes, said Simon, who conducted an exhaustive analysis of corn kernels found at Cahokia and elsewhere in the Midwest.

"Corn was originally cultivated in Mesoamerica," she said. "Its flowering time and production time are controlled by the amount of sunlight it gets. When it got up into this region, its flowering was no longer corresponding to the available daylight. If you planted it in the spring, it wouldn't even start to flower until August, and winter would set in before you could harvest your crop."

The plant had to evolve to survive in this northerly climate, Simon said.

"It was probably only marginally adapted to high latitudes in what is now the southwestern United States by 0 A.D.," she said. "So, the potential for successful cultivation in the Midwest at this early date is highly problematic."

When they analyzed the carbon isotopes in the teeth and bones of 108 individuals buried in Cahokia between 600 and 1400, researchers saw a signature consistent with corn consumption beginning abruptly between 950 and 1000, Hedman said. The data from dogs buried at and near Cahokia also corresponded to this timeline.

"That's where you see this big jump in the appearance of corn in the diet," Hedman said. "This correlates very closely with what Mary Simon is finding with the dates on the maize."

"Between 900 and 1000 is also when you start to see a real shift in the culture of Cahokia," Emerson said. "This was the beginning of mound construction. There was a massive growth of population and a dramatic shift in ideology with the appearance of fertility iconography."

Artifacts uncovered from Cahokia include flint-clay figurines of women engaged in agricultural activities and vessels marked with symbols of water and fertility. Some of the items depict crops such as sunflowers and squash that predated the arrival of corn.

"It wasn't like the Cahokians didn't already have an agricultural base when corn arrived on the scene," Simon said. "They were preadapted to the whole idea of cultivation."

The absence of corn iconography in artifacts from the city reflects corn's status as a relative newcomer to the region at the time Cahokia first flourished, Emerson said.

Built near present-day St. Louis, the ancient city of Cahokia was an early experiment in urban living.

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The Illinois Department of Transportation and ISAS supported this research. ISAS is a division of the Prairie Research Institute at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Editor's notes:

The paper "Isotopic confirmation of the timing and intensity of maize consumption in Greater Cahokia" is available online and from the U. of I. News Bureau