Warming climate slows tropical birds' population growth rates

30-year study in Tanzania shows temperature-linked population declines in species important to forests

UNIVERSITY OF UTAH

Research News

IMAGE: WHITE-CHESTED ALETHE IN TANZANIA. view more 

CREDIT: MONTE NEATE-CLEGG

The mountain forests of Tanzania are more than 9,300 miles away from Salt Lake City, Utah. But, as in eastern Africa, the wild places of Utah depend on a diversity of birds to spread seeds, eat pests and clean up carrion. Birds keep ecosystems healthy. So if birds in Tanzania are in trouble in a warming climate, as found in a recent study by University of Utah researchers, people in Utah as well as in the African tropics should pay attention.

In a new study published in Global Change Biology, doctoral student Monte Neate-Clegg and colleagues tracked the demographics of 21 bird species over 30 years of observations from a mountain forest in Tanzania. For at least six of the species, their population declined over 30 years could be most attributable to rising temperatures--an effect of a warming world. Smaller birds, as well as those that live at the lower part of their elevation range, were at higher risk for slowed population growth.

"If climate change continues to cause population declines in tropical birds, these species could go extinct," Neate-Clegg says. "And what is happening to birds is almost certainly happening to other organisms."

Three decades in Tanzania

This story starts with William Newmark, a conservation biologist at the Natural History Museum of Utah. In 1987, he began collecting data on birds in the East and West Usambara Mountains in northeastern Tanzania. To track the birds, he and his colleagues set up mist nets, nearly invisible nets that safely and temporarily trap birds so that researchers can gently place an identification band (or record a band number if a bird already has one) and release it again.

"Understory tropical birds are also a particularly good group of organisms to assess the impact of climate change on biodiversity because they can be individually banded and thus carefully monitored over time," says Newmark. "Furthermore many tropical understory birds are poor dispersers, and thus they do not have the option to move elsewhere when their environment changes and consequently are excellent indicators of environmental change."

In 2017, Neate-Clegg joined the project, and in 2019 traveled to Tanzania for 10 weeks of fieldwork. "It rained a lot which made things pretty miserable, and the length of isolation was a mental challenge, but good practice for a pandemic!" he says. But the local field team, led by Victor Mkongewa, was fantastic, he says. "They ran a tight ship and made me feel very welcome. Being in the jungle is always a magical experience and I enjoyed exploring the forests and mountains. Having hornbills as an alarm clock never got old!"

Thirty years of bird observations generate a vast and powerful dataset, one that is rare in the tropics. Bird banding is a powerful tool in itself because demographic information for bird species can be derived from the rate at which previously banded birds are re-encountered.

"This dataset was a great opportunity to test for long-term climate signals," Neate-Clegg says. And the location featured high biodiversity and high levels of species that were found in that area and nowhere else. "Historically the forests have been fragmented, and now climate change threatens these species as well," he says. "So it's a really important ecosystem to study, especially given how little research takes place in Africa compared to other tropical locales."

Bird demographics

The researchers examined the resulting data in a few different ways. First, they looked at how the demographics, or population characteristics, of 21 bird species changed over the study period. Specifically, they looked at population growth, including through reproduction, and survival rates.

To explore possible factors behind the trends, the researchers compared demographic trends with precipitation and temperature trends, finding that for more than half of the species studied, the rising temperature was correlated with decreasing population growth rates. After more statistical analysis, they found that temperature explained demographic trends better than just the passage of time for six of the 21 species, or a little more than a quarter.

Neate-Clegg was surprised that precipitation wasn't more of a factor relative to temperature. "Rainfall has been linked to demographic rates in tropical birds in Panama," he says. "More rain means healthier plants, and more insects such as caterpillars, so we expect rain to help bird demographic rates.  "On the other hand," says Newmark, "the dry season in the Usambara Mountains is shorter and less pronounced than in Panama and thus there is a less seasonal change in food supply for birds in the Usambara Mountains than in Panama."

Other characteristics emerged as important factors. Birds with smaller bodies exhibited lower population growth, as did birds who lived below the midpoint of their optimal elevation range.

What it means for the rest of the world

The declines in population growth, Neate-Clegg says, are more likely to be due to less reproduction than to bird mortality. "To survive and reproduce birds need to find food and avoid predators and parasites," he says. "If changes in temperature affect any of these processes it could affect the birds." Climate effects on insect abundance, predator activity or fruit timing, he says, could negatively affect birds.

Climate change is a complex global phenomenon, with the potential for winners and losers in various corners of the animal kingdom, Neate-Clegg says.

"Birds trapped in montane forest blocks such as in the Usambara mountains will likely be losers because they live in isolated habitats and so don't really have the option of escaping the temperature increases," he says. "I think montane birds throughout the tropics, and even in temperate places such as the Rockies, will be feeling the pressure of increasing temperatures."

And that matters because birds are not just birds. They're integral components of their ecosystems. In forests particularly, birds participate in seed dispersal and pollination, and their loss threatens the health of forests with all the benefits to soil, air, water and wildlife that they carry. In places like Tanzania, Neate-Clegg adds, biodiversity spurs eco-tourism which supports local economies. "The world," he says, "would be poorer without this diversity."

"This study highlights," Newmark says, "the importance of rapidly developing conservation strategies for tropical birds that incorporate the impact of climate change."

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Find the full study here.

CAPTION

Usambara double-collared sunbird in Tanzania.

CREDIT

Monte Neate-Clegg

NYU Abu Dhabi study predicts motion sickness severity

Researchers discover a sensory sensitivity-based predictor of motion sickness, which can be used to personalize Virtual Reality technology and reduce discomfort

NEW YORK UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

IMAGE: DR. BAS ROKERS, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR AND DIRECTOR OF THE NEUROIMAGING CENTER AT NYU ABU DHABI view more 

CREDIT: NYU ABU DHABI

"It was clear that the greater an individual's sensitivity to motion parallax cues, the more severe the motion sickness symptoms," says lead NYU Abu Dhabi researcher

Fast facts:

• The visual system is often studied in relative isolation, but it has clear connections to other components of the nervous system.
• A notable example of this is motion sickness, which affects certain people much more severely than others.
• Motion sickness is typically associated with traveling in cars, boats, and airplanes, however discomfort or "cybersickness" also arises with technological use such as in virtual reality (VR).

Abu Dhabi, UAE, March 9, 2021: A new study led by Head of the Rokers Vision Laboratory and NYUAD Associate Professor of Psychology Bas Rokers explored why the severity of motion sickness varies from person to person by investigating sources of cybersickness during VR use.

In the new study, Variations in visual sensitivity predict motion sickness in virtual reality published in the journal Entertainment Computing, Rokers and his team used VR headsets to simulate visual cues and present videos that induced moderate levels of motion sickness. They found that a person's ability to detect visual cues predicted the severity of motion sickness symptoms. Specifically, discomfort was due to a specific sensory cue called motion parallax, which is defined as the relative movement of different parts of the environment.

A previously reported source of variability in motion sickness severity, gender, was also evaluated but not confirmed. The researchers conclude that previously reported gender differences may have been due to poor personalization of VR displays, most of which default to male settings.

These findings suggest a number of strategies to mitigate motion sickness in VR, including reducing or eliminating specific sensory cues, and ensuring device settings are personalized to each user. Understanding the sources of motion sickness, especially while using technology, not only has the potential to alleviate discomfort, but also to make VR technology a more widely accessible resource for education, job training, healthcare, and entertainment.

"As we tested sensitivity to sensory cues, a robust relationship emerged. It was clear that the greater an individual's sensitivity to motion parallax cues, the more severe the motion sickness symptoms," said Rokers. "It is our hope that these findings will help lead to the more widespread use of powerful VR technologies by removing barriers that prevent many people from taking advantage of its potential."

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About NYU Abu Dhabi

NYU Abu Dhabi is the first comprehensive liberal arts and science campus in the Middle East to be operated abroad by a major American research university. NYU Abu Dhabi has integrated a highly-selective liberal arts, engineering and science curriculum with a world center for advanced research and scholarship enabling its students to succeed in an increasingly interdependent world and advance cooperation and progress on humanity's shared challenges. NYU Abu Dhabi's high-achieving students have come from more than 115 nations and speak over 115 languages. Together, NYU's campuses in New York, Abu Dhabi, and Shanghai form the backbone of a unique global university, giving faculty and students opportunities to experience varied learning environments and immersion in other cultures at one or more of the numerous study-abroad sites NYU maintains on six continents.

Use of patient data guides outreach to treat and monitor people with diabetes

Strategies and factors associated with top performance in primary care for diabetes: Insights from a mixed methods study

AMERICAN ACADEMY OF FAMILY PHYSICIANS

Research News

 

Researchers from the HealthPartners Institute and University of Minnesota in Minneapolis conducted an observational analysis of interviews and characteristics of primary care clinics, comparing the strategies, facilitators and barriers to high performance in treating patients with diabetes. The purpose of the study was to learn what strategies and factors seem most important to leaders of primary care clinics to ensure high performance. The percentage of Minnesota diabetes patients who achieved optimal diabetes care measures increased from 12 to 45 percent between 2004 and 2017, while national measures of diabetes care outcomes did not improve significantly around the same time span.

The main difference among the strategies and factors was the degree to which top performing clinics used patient data to guide proactive and outreach methods to intensify treatment and monitor impact. The authors state that while confirmatory studies are needed, clinic leaders should consider the value of this paradigm shift in approach to care.

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Strategies and Factors Associated With Top Performance in Primary Care for Diabetes: Insights From a Mixed Methods Study
Leif I. Solberg, MD, et al
HealthPartners Institute, Minneapolis, Minnesota
https://www.annfammed.org/content/19/2/110

Unconscious biases can drive foodborne illness outbreaks, MU researchers find

Study concludes outbreak prevention policies should account for inadvertent behaviors.

UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-COLUMBIA

Research News

 

IMAGE: HARVEY JAMES BELIEVES STUDYING UNCONSCIOUS BIASES CAN HELP RESEARCHERS LEARN HOW OUTBREAKS ARE BORN. view more 

CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI

COLUMBIA, Mo. - In the midst of a pandemic that has claimed more than 2 million lives worldwide and disrupted nearly every facet of society since it appeared more than a year ago, understanding the factors that create and facilitate disease outbreaks is more important than ever. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri have determined that cognitive biases -- patterns of errors in thinking that affect judgments and behaviors, often unconsciously -- can help create and worsen foodborne disease outbreaks.

"Unethical behavior isn't always intentional; conflicts of interest and other unconscious motivations can lead people to behave in ways that help outbreaks emerge and spread," said Harvey James, associate director of the division of applied social sciences and a professor of agricultural and applied economics in the MU College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources (CAFNR). "If we can understand what motivates a store owner to re-open too early or a food producer to cut corners, then we can create better policies and regulations that nudge people in the right direction without restricting their freedoms."

James and Michelle Segovia, an assistant professor of agricultural and applied economics in CAFNR, were eager to apply the science of behavioral ethics to the field of food safety. Behavioral ethics examines why people make ethical and unethical decisions; to see how those choices might contribute to a foodborne disease outbreak, the researchers turned to the case of Jensen Farms.

In 2011, the Colorado cantaloupe producer was found to be responsible for an outbreak of Listeria at its packing plant that led to one of the worst foodborne illness outbreaks in U.S. history, resulting in 33 deaths across 28 states. The outbreak occurred despite Jensen Farms having recently audited their food safety procedures and installed new cleaning equipment.

To explain this contradiction, the researchers identified several forms of cognitive bias at work. Motivated blindness, for instance, encourages a person or company to advance their own interests without accounting for conflicts of interest. In the case of Jensen Farms, James and Segovia theorized that motivated blindness was to blame for the choice to hire a lenient auditor that deemed the company's food safety procedures "superior."

In addition, the researchers emphasized the unconscious nature of cognitive biases with an example of omission bias, in which the lack of action, rather than a specific harmful action, can create unfortunate consequences. Though Jensen Farms possessed equipment capable of cleaning cantaloupes with an antibacterial wash, the antibacterial function was not used prior to the outbreak.

"Jensen Farms believed they were making their cantaloupes safer even as they failed to take actions that could have prevented an outbreak," James said. "This is a perfect example of the fact that unethical behavior does not need to be a conscious act. There isn't always an easy 'villain,' so if laws and policies only address people who are intentionally propagating an outbreak, we are missing a big part of the picture. This study is a step toward recognizing the immense consequences of inadvertent and unintentional behavior."

While COVID-19 is not considered a foodborne illness, James believes that the lessons learned about cognitive biases from the study are relevant to the current pandemic. Motivated blindness, for example, could explain why some restaurants and other businesses have refused to abide by lockdown orders for fear of losing business. Herding behavior -- a bias that occurs when people follow the crowd even if they disagree with the crowd's behavior -- explains the surge in demand for certain essential items and subsequent nationwide shortages.

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The study, "Behavioral Ethics and the Incidence of Foodborne Illness Outbreaks," was published in the Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics. Funding was provided by Hatch Project Number MO-AC011AC047.

Study: Political, economic, social factors affect local decisions about death penalty

CRIME AND JUSTICE RESEARCH ALLIANCE

Research News

 

Broad political, economic, and social factors influence disciplinary punishment. In particular, over the last half century, such considerations have shaped jurisdictions' use of the death penalty, which has declined considerably since the 1990s. A new study examined the factors associated with use of the death penalty at the county level to provide a fuller picture of what issues influence court outcomes. The study concludes that partisan politics, religious fundamentalism, and economic threat influenced local decisions about the death penalty. The study also found that the size of the African American population, which prior state-level studies have found to be associated with use of the death penalty, was not directly associated with the recent decline in the use of this punishment.

The study, by researchers at Missouri State University and American University, will appear in Criminology, a publication of the American Society of Criminology.

"It is essential to examine the local political environment and the composition of jurisdictional populations to capture the processes that influence local trial court outcomes," suggests Ethan Amidon, associate professor of criminology and criminal justice at Missouri State University, who led the study. "Although we found support for a number of perspectives that have been identified in prior state-level studies, our findings indicate that these relationships are more complex when considered at the local, decision-making level."

In the last 30 years, national reliance on the death penalty has declined across all states--from a late 20th century peak of 330 death sentences in 1994 to 32 death sentences in 2016. Most counties have also used the death penalty less.

In this study, researchers examined a variety of issues associated with the use of death sentences across three decennial periods from 1990 to 2010. They studied information from 2,572 counties or county equivalents, using information from the U.S. Census Bureau's decennial reports and its American Community Survey; they also considered information from a database that contains death sentences by county from 1991 to 2017. Prior research has studied this information primarily from a state perspective.

Among the factors examined were the percentages of people in each county who voted for the Republican presidential candidate, were religious fundamentalists (based on church membership data), were of different races and ethnicities, and were unemployed. The study measured each county's tradition of vigilantism by tallying the lynching rate in each jurisdiction.

To control for factors that could influence the use of the death penalty, the study considered several variables, including each county's number of homicides, rate of violent crime (homicides, robberies, rapes, and aggravated assaults), and rate of property crime (burglaries, larcenies, and car thefts). The study also considered total population and income inequality, as well as rates of divorce and poverty in each county.

The researchers concluded that several factors are associated with county-level reliance on the death penalty:

• The degree of public support for Republican presidential candidates was directly associated with greater reliance on the death penalty over the study period. Given that the death penalty has declined over the last three decades, this means that the decrease in the use of this punishment was more gradual in jurisdictions with a growth in support for Republican presidential candidates, who tend to espouse law and order positions.

• Counties with larger Protestant fundamentalist populations imposed death sentences to a greater degree, on average, than counties with smaller such populations. This contributes to a degree of persistence in the death penalty in jurisdictions where citizens remain strongly committed to fundamentalist ideologies.

• The size of economically marginalized populations within counties was directly related to greater reliance on the death penalty. This relationship inverted once the size of the unemployed population reached a tipping point.

• Neither the size of a county's African American and Hispanic populations nor its history of vigilantism was directly related to its jurisdictional use of the death penalty. However, the size of the African American population was associated indirectly with reliance on the death penalty in terms of its influence on jurisdictional unemployment.

The authors note their study is missing data on factors such as the percentage of religious fundamentalists and crime rate variables, and a few of the measurement procedures used by some of their sources changed across the study period, including those that provided crime data.

"Even as reliance on capital punishment has waned in the early 21st century, the nature and severity of penal punishments have continued to be shaped by the broader social, political, and economic landscapes in which they are immersed," according to John Eassey, a researcher in residence in the Justices Programs Office at American University, who coauthored the study.

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Molecule with potential to treat multiple sclerosis passes toxicology testing in zebrafish

Study conducted at a FAPESP-supported research center shows that anti-inflammatory peptide TnP could lead to drug development. Zebrafish Danio rerio is a popular aquarium species widely used as a model for in vivo trials in drug development.

FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO

Research New

 

IMAGE: IN ADDITION TO PROVING THE PEPTIDE'S SAFETY WHEN USED AS AN ANTI-INFLAMMATORY AGENT, THE RESULTS REINFORCE THE IMPORTANCE OF D. RERIO AS AN ALTERNATIVE ANIMAL MODEL FOR DRUG DEVELOPMENT THAT... view more 

CREDIT: INSTITUTO BUTANTAN

Brazilian researchers who study a native venomous fish have confirmed a route to drug development for the treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases such as multiple sclerosis and asthma.

The venomous toadfish Thalassophryne nattereri contains a peptide (TnP) with anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic potential. Confirmation of this potential has now come via the zebrafish Danio rerio, a popular aquarium species native to South Asia that shares 70% of its genome with humans and is widely used as a model for in vivo trials in drug development.

The researchers tested TnP in D. rerio to measure its toxicity. In a little over a year, their research showed that the peptide is safe. It did not cause cardiac dysfunction or neurological problems in the toxicity tests they performed.

The study was conducted at Butantan Institute's Special Laboratory for Applied Toxinology in São Paulo (Brazil) by researchers affiliated with the Center for Research on Toxins, Immune Response and Cell Signaling (CeTICS), one of the Research, Innovation and Dissemination Centers (RIDCs) funded by São Paulo Research Foundation - FAPESP.

In addition to proving the peptide's safety when used as an anti-inflammatory agent, the results reinforce the importance of D. rerio as an alternative animal model for drug development that saves time and money.

Preclinical trials are important to prove the efficacy (therapeutic activity) of molecules in vivo and to evaluate adverse effects and safety. In drug discovery, 98% of the compounds tested in animals are abandoned before clinical tests.

In an article published in Toxicology Reports, the researchers say peptides represent about 2% of the world drug market but even so account for a market share worth about USD 20 billion.

"The results highlight a wide therapeutic index for TnP with non-lethal and safe doses from 1?nm [nanometer] to 10?μm [micrometer], without causing neurotoxicity or cardiotoxic effect. The low frequency of abnormalities [caused] by TnP was associated with the high safety of the molecule and the developing embryo's ability to process and eliminate it. TnP crossed the blood-brain barrier without disturbing the normal architecture of forebrain, midbrain, and hindbrain [the three main developmental divisions of the brain]," the authors write.

The study resulted from the master's research of João Batista-Filho, supervised by Mônica Lopes Ferreira and Carla Lima da Silva. It used the Zebrafish Platform, launched in 2015 by CeTICS (read more at: agencia.fapesp.br/22156/).

The Zebrafish Platform is available to scientists for research, offers courses on zebrafish management and biology, and does scientific dissemination. More than 160 researchers at 100 private and public institutions currently collaborate via Zebrafish Network, also created by CeTiCS.

"Science dies out without investment and FAPESP's commitment to this platform is now bearing fruit," Ferreira told. "Cutting-edge research is being done here, alongside preclinical trials that are important both to academia and industry."

Zebrafish have been used for decades in trials held in other countries, she said, adding that Brazil is closing the gap and that the animal's rapid life cycle accelerates the research process.

The freshwater species is easy to manage, reproducing fast, developing from egg to larva in 48-72 hours, and reaching adulthood at only three months of age. Zebrafish embryos are transparent and the effect of a compound on the animal's organs can easily be observed, for example.

History

Ferreira and collaborators discovered TnP (T. nattereri peptide) in 2007. Meanwhile, Lima had standardized laboratory tests to evaluate multiple sclerosis in rodents. The two researchers decided to work together to test TnP's efficacy in treatment of the disease, concluding for its anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory functions.

The TnP family encompasses synthetic peptides containing a sequence of 13 L-amino acids in their primary structure. Synthetic products derived from TnP have been patented in at least nine countries including the US, India and Japan, as well as the EU. In Brazil, a patent application has been filed in partnership with the pharmaceutical company Cristália.

Studies conducted by the group with mice between 2013 and 2015 had already demonstrated that TnP can treat multiple sclerosis, delaying the onset of severe symptoms and improving clinical signs of the disease.

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic autoimmune inflammatory disorder of the central nervous system, in which the immune system attacks the myelin sheath that protects nerve fibers in the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves, disrupting communication with the rest of the organism. It can cause muscle weakness, vision loss, pain, and impaired motor coordination. It affects some 2.5 million people worldwide, including about 35,000 in Brazil, according to the Brazilian Multiple Sclerosis Association (ABEM).

Safety

In the article published in Toxicology Reports, the researchers say drug-induced cardiotoxicity is the main reason for drug withdrawal from the market. "For instance, between 1994 and 2006, 45% of discontinued medications had adverse effects such as cardiac ischemia and arhythmogenesis. In this line zebrafish has emerged as a model organism for cardiovascular research, investigating gene function and modeling a variety of human disease side-effects of chemotherapeutic drugs or particularly to screen drug candidates," they note.

For Batista-Filho, the study provides more evidence for the value of the zebrafish model in preclinical research. "It doesn't substitute mice, but avoids future expense on molecules that may not be promising or prove too toxic in previous phases," he said when asked about reservations regarding the use of zebrafish in trials compared with rodents.

Advocating investment in science and research in Brazil, Batista-Filho said he was overjoyed to achieve publication of his master's dissertation in a scientific journal. "I'm delighted," he said. "Publication is a milestone for any scientist. You focus on the good that research can do, but publication is recognition for the team's hard work."

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About São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP)

The São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) is a public institution with the mission of supporting scientific research in all fields of knowledge by awarding scholarships, fellowships and grants to investigators linked with higher education and research institutions in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. FAPESP is aware that the very best research can only be done by working with the best researchers internationally. Therefore, it has established partnerships with funding agencies, higher education, private companies, and research organizations in other countries known for the quality of their research and has been encouraging scientists funded by its grants to further develop their international collaboration. You can learn more about FAPESP at http://www.fapesp.br/en and visit FAPESP news agency at http://www.agencia.fapesp.br/en to keep updated with the latest scientific breakthroughs FAPESP helps achieve through its many programs, awards and research centers. You may also subscribe to FAPESP news agency at http://agencia.fapesp.br/subscribe.

Rising antiparasitic drug cost in U.S. leads to higher patient costs, decreased quality of care

Rural areas have higher prevalence of the diseases that use these drugs for treatment

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE AND HYGIENE

Research News

 

New study finds the skyrocketing cost of drugs in U.S. used to treat hookworm and other soil-transmitted parasites increases patient costs, suggests decreased quality of care

A new study finds that the increasingly high prices in the United States of the drugs used to treat three soil-transmitted helminth infections--hookworm, roundworm (ascariasis), and whipworm (trichuriasis)--is not only the major driver for the increase in costs to patients with either Medicaid or private insurance, but it also may have a damaging impact on the quality-of-care patients receive as clinicians shift their prescribing patterns to more affordable yet less-effective medicines covered by insurance.

The drugs of choice recommended by the Centers for Disease Control for treating these infections--albendazole and mebendazole--have seen some of the highest price increases of drugs on the U.S. market. There are limited alternative drugs available.

The peer-reviewed study was published this week in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (AJTMH) by a team of social scientists and infectious disease experts at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the University at Albany - SUNY, Northeastern University, HealthPartners Institute, and the University of Minnesota.

The researchers reported that "the percentages of patients prescribed the appropriate standard of care treatment with private insurance for all three infections during the study period was consistently less than 70%, and in the case of hookworm diagnosed in those with private insurance, less than 30% of patients received the standard of care prescription drug. This rate of appropriate treatment is disturbingly low. "

While these neglected parasitic worm infections are relatively uncommon across the U.S., there are pockets where the diseases are more prevalent, particularly rural areas with limited plumbing and poor sanitation. A study published in 2017 in AJTMH found that more than one in three people sampled in a poor area of Alabama tested positive for traces of hookworm, a gastrointestinal parasite though to have been eradicated from the U.S. decades ago.

 

Adaptation, not irrigation recommended for Midwest corn farmers

MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

IMAGE: BASSO ANALYZED CLIMATE TRENDS FROM WEATHER STATIONS FROM ACROSS THE MIDWEST DATING AS FAR BACK AS 1894. view more 

CREDIT: PHOTO BY JESSE GARDNER ON UNSPLASH

Farmers in the Midwest may be able to bypass the warming climate not by getting more water for their crops, but instead by adapting to climate change through soil management says a new study from Michigan State University.

"The Midwest supplies 30% of the world's corn and soybeans," said Bruno Basso, an ecosystems scientist and MSU Foundation Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences within the College of Natural Science. "These crops are sensitive to temperature and water changes."

Previous studies have suggested that by 2050, the Midwest will need about 35% more water to sustain its current levels of corn and soybean yields. But research done by Basso and colleagues found that the data does not support this idea. The Midwest is in a unique location that typically receives ample rainfall and has deep soil, ideal for farming.

The research was published March 5 in Nature Communications.

Basso, with his lab members Rafael Martinez-Feria and Lydia Rill, and MSU Distinguished Emeritus Professor Joe Ritchie, analyzed climate trends from weather stations from across the Midwest dating as far back as 1894.

The researchers found that average daily temperatures during the summer have increased throughout much of the Midwest. But they also discovered that daily minimum air temperatures, usually during the nighttime, have increased while the daily maximum daytime temperatures have decreased.

These trends held true during the full, 120-year weather record studied or during more 30- to 60-year time periods.

"Warmer temperatures generally mean that crops need more water, but that doesn't seem to be the case in the Midwest," said Basso, who is also a faculty member at MSU's W.K. Kellogg Biological Station and AgBioResearch. "Because the increase in average temperature comes from higher minimum temperatures -- the temperature at which dew is formed -- this means that the air is also becoming more humid."

Ritchie, one of the co-authors on the study, said that these two contrasting trends have canceled each other out, and that so far, the potential crop water demand has remained relatively unchanged despite the warming climate.

Data were entered into computer simulation models developed at MSU by Basso and Ritchie to gauge the impact if these trends continued into 2050. Martinez-Feria, another co-author on the study, said that in the worst-case scenario, the amount of water needed by crops could increase by an average of 2.5%. More conservative estimates indicate that water needs would remain practically the same, because summer rainfall would also increase.

Basso cautions that although crop water needs may be similar in the future, increasing air temperatures also make droughts more likely to occur. "The impact climate change will have on the Midwest is still uncertain," he said. "We are still at risk of droughts."

But instead of installing extensive and expensive irrigation systems that might only pay off under extreme droughts, Bassos advises farmers to invest in technology and regenerative soil practices that make plants more resilient and adaptable to climate change.

"As we continue to learn more about weather and its increased variability, farmers need to adapt, which they are starting to do," Basso said. "I feel optimistic that with the progress made in regenerative practices, genetics and digital technology solutions, we can adapt to climate and have a better chance of winning this battle against our own previous mistakes."

Now is the time to study impact of pandemic on mothers and babies

University of Houston researcher issues a call for new methods to combat stress and social isolation

UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON

Research News

 L

IMAGE: IN A NEW STUDY, AMANDA VENTA, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY AT UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON, URGES MORE SUPPORT FOR EXPECTANT MOMS WHO ARE SOCIALLY ISOLATED AND UNDER STRESS DURING NATURAL DISASTERS... view more 

CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON

If past natural disasters have taught us anything about their effects on pregnant women and developing babies, it is to pay close attention, for the added stress will surely have an impact on them. Amanda Venta, associate professor of psychology at the University of Houston, is sounding that alarm as it relates to the COVID-19 pandemic in a newly released study published in Child Psychiatry & Human Development.

"There is strong evidence to suggest that the coronavirus pandemic will affect mothers and infants through immune pathways that, in previous research, have been shown to link stress and social isolation during the pre- and post-natal periods with deficits in maternal mental health and infant well-being and development across developmental stages," reports Venta.

Research is clear about the link between the mind and body and maternal stress having toxic inflammatory effects on both mothers and infants.

"A pregnant mom's immune system translates to her baby, so when she releases inflammatory cytokines, which can be in response to stress, those get passed to the baby both before birth and through breast milk," said Venta. "When we see elevated inflammatory cytokines in babies, we know there is increased risk for later developmental problems."

One of the studies Venta used in her summary was "Project Ice Storm," which examined effects of in utero exposure to varying levels of prenatal maternal stress resulting from the 1998 Quebec ice storm, which left millions of people without electricity for up to 40 days. Follow-ups with children until the age of 19 showed significant effects on temperament, behavior, motor development, physical development, IQ, attention and language development.

And though there is no current data yet linking mothers' stress during the COVID-19 pandemic to infant outcomes, now is the time to start taking stock, according to Venta.

"We know that when moms are socially isolated it increases stress. We need to do something from a research standpoint, and we need to do things differently clinically. When moms are supported by their partner, family and friends, or even their doctor, those kinds of social relationships can reduce inflammation," said Venta, who speaks from the trenches. She is five months pregnant and her Ob/Gyn has yet to ask if she is isolated, stressed, or feels supported-- questions that are currently far outside the standard of prenatal care.

The report concludes that research on the psychological and biological cascades of stress and social isolation on mothers and infants is needed immediately and recommends specific areas for future research:

• Assess infant developmental and maternal mental health outcomes during COVID-19 and in the aftermath
• Examine mechanisms of resilience and risk
• Pilot interventions for immediate use

"We must move quickly to understand the risk of long-term adversity for these families and, relatedly, identify protective factors that can be leveraged to mitigate the catastrophe of adverse outcomes for this birth cohort," said Venta.

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Plants as protein factories: Antioxidant boosts the yield of valuable biologics

Research team at University of Tsukuba finds spraying leaves with vitamin C 

prevents cell death and enhances production of high-value pharmaceutical proteins in plants

UNIVERSITY OF TSUKUBA



IMAGE: A TEAM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TSUKUBA HAS DISCOVERED THAT SPRAYING PLANT LEAVES WITH HIGH CONCENTRATIONS OF THE ANTIOXIDANT ASCORBIC ACID (VITAMIN C) CAN DRAMATICALLY INCREASE THE YIELD OF FOREIGN... view more

CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF TSUKUBA

Tsukuba, Japan - Producing high-value pharmaceutical proteins in plants--sometimes called "molecular pharming"--offers advantages over some other manufacturing methods, notably the low cost and ease of scaling up production to meet demand. But expressing large quantities of "foreign" proteins in plants can also sometimes lead to problems, such as dehydration and premature cell death in the leaves.

Now a team led by Professor Kenji Miura of the University of Tsukuba has discovered that spraying leaves with high concentrations of the antioxidant ascorbic acid (vitamin C) can increase protein production three-fold or even more. They recently published their findings in Plant Physiology.

The team worked with a close relative of tobacco, Nicotiana benthamiana, which is widely used for this type of application as the plants grow well in greenhouses and it is relatively straightforward to introduce foreign genes. The researchers induced the leaves to produce new proteins by a process known as agro-infiltration: the leaves are injected with bacteria called Agrobacterium that carry the DNA encoding the proteins of interest into plant cells. The leaf cells decode the DNA and use it to make the new proteins.

While some foreign proteins cause few problems for the plant cells, others can lead to side-effects that seem to be caused by an excess of damaging reactive oxygen species. Applying ascorbic acid as an antioxidant counteracts the harmful effects and allows substantially higher rates of protein production.

"We tested the method with several different types of proteins," says Professor Miura. "We used green fluorescent protein (a common tool in the lab) and two human proteins, called Cul1 and an F-box protein. Spraying the leaves with ascorbic acid made a surprisingly big difference, but only when we applied high concentrations of the antioxidant. It seems that ascorbic acid prevents cell death and also reduces the breakdown of the foreign proteins, so the yield is higher."

The team went on to successfully produce both the heavy chain and light chain of an antibody protein. They showed that the chains produced in leaves assembled correctly into a functional antibody (comprising two heavy and two light chains), and ascorbic acid did not interfere with its immunological properties.

"We are delighted by our results," says Professor Miura. "As this method of spraying the leaves is so simple, we expect it can be widely adopted and should help to improve the production of many types of valuable proteins for research and medical applications."

The article, "Prevention of necrosis caused by transient expression in Nicotiana benthamiana by application of ascorbic acid", was recently published in Plant Physiology at doi.org/10.1093/plphys/kiab102.