Key advance in physics research could help enable super-efficient electrical power

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

Today, an international team of researchers led by Séamus Davis, Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford and University College Cork, has announced results that reveal the atomic mechanism behind high-temperature superconductors. The findings are published in PNAS.

Superconductors are materials that can conduct electricity with zero resistance, so that an electric current can persist indefinitely. These are already used in various applications, including MRI scanners and high-speed maglev trains, however superconductivity typically requires extremely low temperatures, limiting their widespread use. A major goal within physics research is to develop super conductors that work at ambient temperatures, which could revolutionise energy transport and storage.

Certain copper oxide materials demonstrate superconductivity at higher temperatures than conventional superconductors, however the mechanism behind this has remained unknown since their discovery in 1987.

To investigate this, an international team involving scientists in Oxford, Cork in Ireland, the USA, Japan, and Germany, developed two new microscopy techniques. The first of these measured the difference in energy between the copper and oxygen atom orbitals, as a function of their location. The second method measured the amplitude of the electron-pair wave function (the strength of the superconductivity) at every oxygen atom and at every copper atom.

‘By visualising the strength of the superconductivity as a function of differences between orbital energies, for the first time ever we were able to measure precisely the relationship required to validate or invalidate one of the leading theories of high-temperature superconductivity, at the atomic scale’ said Professor Davis.

As predicted by the theory, the results showed a quantitative, inverse relationship between the charge-transfer energy difference between adjacent oxygen and copper atoms and the strength of the superconductivity.

According to the research team, this discovery could prove a historic step towards developing room-temperature superconductors. Ultimately, these could have far-reaching applications ranging from maglev trains, nuclear fusion reactors, quantum computers, and high-energy particle accelerators, not to mention super-efficient energy transfer and storage.

In superconductor materials, electrical resistance is minimised because the electrons that carry the current are bound together in stable ‘Copper pairs.’ In low-temperature superconductors, Copper pairs are held together by thermal vibrations, but at higher temperatures these become too unstable. These new results demonstrate that, in high-temperature superconductors, the Copper pairs are instead held together by magnetic interactions, with the electron pairs binding together via a quantum mechanical communication through the intervening oxygen atom.

Professor Davis added: ‘This has been one of the Holy Grails of problems in physics research for nearly 40 years. Many people believe that cheap, readily available room-temperature superconductors would be as revolutionary for the human civilization as the introduction of electricity itself.’

Notes to editors:

Media contact: Elizabeth Indaco, Head of Communications, Department of Physics, University of Oxford: elizabeth.indaco@physics.ox.ac.uk

The paper On the Electron Pairing Mechanism of Copper-Oxide High Temperature Superconductivity has been published in PNAS : https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2207449119.

Besides the University of Oxford, this research involved the University College Cork, Ireland; Cornell University, USA; the Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tsukuba, Japan; the University of Tokyo, Japan; and the Max-Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids, Germany.

About Oxford University

Oxford University has been placed number one in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings for the sixth year running, and second in the QS World Rankings 2022. At the heart of this success is our ground-breaking research and innovation.

Oxford is world-famous for research excellence and home to some of the most talented people from across the globe. Our work helps the lives of millions, solving real-world problems through a huge network of partnerships and collaborations. The breadth and interdisciplinary nature of our research sparks imaginative and inventive insights and solutions.

The Department of Physics at the University of Oxford plays a leading role in physics nationally and internationally and uses its expertise to contribute to society's future through conducting cutting-edge research and by teaching and developing the careers of the next generation of physicists. The department is home to a suite of specialist equipment, facilities, and services and our world-leading physicists collaborate on pioneering projects and facilities around the globe.

About University College Cork

Established in 1845 University College Cork (UCC) has a long and proud history. George Boole, who laid the foundations of the information age, became its first Professor of Mathematics in 1849, while Mary Ryan was appointed the first female Professor in Ireland and the UK in 1925. With over 22,500 students UCC is today regarded and ranked as Ireland's leading university in the area of sustainability. UCC is a research-intensive university and is home to many of Ireland's leading research centres including APC Microbiome Ireland, the Tyndall National Institute, MaREI and INFANT. Discover more at ucc.ie

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JOURNAL

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI

10.1073/pnas.2207449119 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

ARTICLE TITLE

On the electron pairing mechanism of copper-oxide high temperature superconductivity

The way you talk to your child about math matters

Parents’ responses to children’s math success, failure linked to motivation, anxiety

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA

“You’re so smart!”

This encouraging response may actually do more harm than good to children’s math performance, according to a new study by the University of Georgia.

Co-conducted by Michael Barger, an assistant professor in the Mary Frances Early College of Education’s Department of Educational Psychology, the study found that encouraging children with responses related to their personal traits or innate abilities may dampen their math motivation and achievement over time.

Parents who make comments linking their children’s performance to personal attributes like intelligence (e.g., “You’re so smart” or “Math just isn’t your thing”) are using what’s referred to as person responses. In contrast, parents who link their children’s actions, such as effort or strategy use, to their performance (e.g., “You worked hard” or “What might be useful next time you have a math test?”) are using process responses.

“Person-focused praise sounds good on its face, but ultimately, it might undermine students’ motivation if they run into challenges,” said Barger. “Because if you run into challenges after being told you’re so smart, you might think, ‘Maybe they were wrong.’ We also know that people tend to think about math as something that some people can do and others can’t, and that language is pretty common, whether it’s among parents or teachers, even with young kids.”

Praising strategy and effort

For the study, researchers asked more than 500 parents to report on how they respond to their children’s math performance and their math beliefs and goals. Students were assessed in two waves across a year to measure their math motivation and achievement.

The results showed that parents who viewed math ability as changeable were more likely to give process responses focused on their children’s strategy use and efforts rather than their intelligence or other personal attributes.

In contrast, parents who believe math ability is unchangeable and that math failure can’t be constructive gave more person-oriented responses. Parents with high expectations for their children gave a combination of both responses.

While responses highlighting strategy and effort were not related to any achievement outcomes, children who received more responses about their personal traits—in particular, related to failure—were more likely to avoid harder math problems, exhibited higher levels of math anxiety, and scored lower on a math achievement test.

“There are a couple possible reasons process messages aren’t necessarily improving math achievement,” said Barger. “It could be that they’re just so frequent now that they just kind of wash over, and that doesn’t have as much of an impact. And it could also be that some of these messages don’t land correctly if they’re not authentic. However, with person responses, we saw clear links to anxiety and less preference for challenging math problems.”

A boost to math motivation

Because person responses predict poor math adjustment in children over time, researchers recommend limiting this type of response at home and in the classroom.

“There’s not necessarily any benefit to talking about whether people are or are not math people because if you’re a student who starts struggling, you’re going to start thinking that maybe you’re not a math person,” said Barger.

The second recommendation for parents is to think about their own beliefs and goals for their kids and examine how these might lead them to respond in person or process ways. Simply telling parents to refrain from talking about math ability may not be enough.

Instead, convincing parents that math performance can improve could go a long way.

Many parents praise their children’s individual characteristics as a form of encouragement, but focusing less on how students perform and more on their strategy and enjoyment of math might be a more effective way to enhance motivation.

This means using responses like “Why do you think that happened?” or “Did you have fun?” in place of responses like “You’re so smart” or “Math just isn’t your thing.”

“We should also be asking whether parents believe that math ability can change and if they view failure as an opportunity to learn, as this seems to be related to less person responses,” said Barger. “This is more effective than just giving a checklist of things to say.”

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JOURNAL

Child Development

DOI

10.1111/cdev.13834 

ARTICLE TITLE

Parents' responses to children's math performance in early elementary school: Links with parents' math beliefs and children's math adjustment

DONALD DUCK IN MATHMAGIC LAND

Culinary medicine programs aim to improve nutrition education for doctors

UTSW study shows medical school programs are expanding but underfunded

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UT SOUTHWESTERN MEDICAL CENTER

 

IMAGE: UTSW'S CULINARY MEDICINE TEAM PROVIDES EDUCATION IN TEACHING KITCHENS FOR MEDICAL STUDENTS, RESIDENTS, FELLOWS AND OTHER HEALTH PROFESSIONALS. view more 

CREDIT: UT SOUTHWESTERN MEDICAL CENTER

Culinary medicine programs are emerging at medical schools to meet a critical need to improve nutrition education in an era of unprecedented diet-related health problems including obesity and cardiovascular disease, according to a review of programs by UT Southwestern researchers published in Academic Medicine, the journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges.

The programs utilize teaching kitchens to give health professionals practical skills to help patients make evidence-based dietary changes while celebrating nourishing, accessible, affordable, and delicious food, said lead author Jaclyn Albin, M.D., Associate Professor of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics who leads the Culinary Medicine program at UT Southwestern.

“This work is the very first scoping review of medical school-based Culinary Medicine programs in the U.S.,” Dr. Albin said. “We anticipate this to be a pivotal resource for the many medical schools seeking to launch programs and needing a collated literature base as well as information about funding, assessment strategies, and lessons learned.”

UT Southwestern has been an innovator in this field. Since starting its program in 2015, UTSW’s Culinary Medicine team has delivered interprofessional education in teaching kitchens across Dallas-Fort Worth to medical students, residents, fellows, other health professionals, and patients. More recently, the Culinary Medicine teams launched a clinical service line that delivers virtual consultations with other health care providers. One-on-one visits between patients and registered dietitians and group cooking classes are expected to begin over the next several months.  

To train the next generation of health professionals, Dr. Albin collaborates with dietitian Milette Siler, M.B.A., RD, LD, to lead classes for medical and graduate students, residents, and fellows across the UT Southwestern campus.

“I have always had a passion for teaching students and patients about nutrition, lifestyle, and other environmental influences on health,” said Dr. Albin. “This has become increasingly complex as more patients face food allergies and intolerances, special dietary or nutritional needs, diseases like irritable bowel syndrome, and much more.”

The researchers identified 34 medical student-focused culinary medicine courses, utilizing a variety of curricular and assessment strategies that lack standardization and measurement of competencies. While the programs have a positive impact on student wellness and nutrition knowledge, they struggle with adequate funding and faculty support.

Dr. Albin said the time is ripe for increased support. Suboptimal diets are well established as a driving force for increased morbidity in obesity, cardiovascular disease, and Type 2 diabetes, and the COVID-19 pandemic revealed the relevance of metabolic health in food insecure communities.    

“Food is the top risk factor for early death in the U.S., and culinary medicine could transform the problem into the solution,” Dr. Albin said.

Other researchers who contributed to the review include first author Courtney Newman and Justin Yan, both UTSW medical students, and Sarah Messiah, University of Texas School of Public Health.

Culinary Medicine education gives health professionals practical skills to help patients make evidence-based dietary changes.

CREDIT

UT Southwestern Medical Center

About UT Southwestern Medical Center

UT Southwestern, one of the nation’s premier academic medical centers, integrates pioneering biomedical research with exceptional clinical care and education. The institution’s faculty has received six Nobel Prizes, and includes 26 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 17 members of the National Academy of Medicine, and 14 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigators. The full-time faculty of more than 2,900 is responsible for groundbreaking medical advances and is committed to translating science-driven research quickly to new clinical treatments. UT Southwestern physicians provide care in more than 80 specialties to more than 100,000 hospitalized patients, more than 360,000 emergency room cases, and oversee nearly 4 million outpatient visits a year.

 

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JOURNAL

Academic Medicine

IOP Publishing’s open access Environmental Research journal series expands with the opening of the first issue of Environmental Research: Ecology

Business Announcement

IOP PUBLISHING

 

IMAGE: FIRST ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH - ECOLOGY view more 

CREDIT: IOP PUBLISHING

IOP Publishing (IOPP) has published the first articles in the open access journal, Environmental Research: Ecology featuring research from a number of world-renowned ecologists. The journal represents one of three new interdisciplinary titles opening in 2022 that will extend IOPP’s Environmental Research series to six open access journals. The full suite of environmental journals provide universally accessible publishing options covering the most critical areas of environmental science and sustainability in support of the United Nations Sustainability Development Goals. 

Environmental Research: Ecology is devoted to addressing the interface of environmental science, large-scale ecology, biodiversity and conservation. The journal publishes full-length research papers, without word restriction, alongside other content including authoritative reviews, perspectives and opinion pieces. It builds on the established reputation of Environmental Research Letters and shares the same modern publishing principles as part of IOPP’s expanding Environmental Research series.  

IOPP’s Environmental Research series of journals combine outstanding levels of author service, inclusive editorial policies, strict quality assurance and have open science principles at their core. In the spirit of transparency and reproducibility, authors publishing in the journal are encouraged to share data and code where appropriate for the benefit of the research community. Authors also have the option to submit their papers for double anonymous and transparent peer review.  

In support of the community and the journal’s first authors, the open access Article Publication Charges (APCs) are being covered by IOPP for all articles submitted to Environmental Research: Ecology through to the end of 2023. 

Environmental Research: Ecology Editor-in-Chief Professor Scott Goetz, Northern Arizona University, USA says: “Ecosystems across the globe are undergoing enormous changes brought about by alteration of the climate system and related transformations associated with human activity. The need to both mitigate and adapt to these changes has been recognised by international policy agreements, yet policies need to be better informed by ecological research. Environmental Research: Ecology provides a platform for incorporating fundamental and applied ecological research using a diverse range of approaches to address realistic science-based policy solutions.” 

Published in the first issue is an impactful study that examines the effects of past and current climate variability on global forest productivity. The work highlights sensitive regions where forests may be most at risk as the planet warms and temperatures become more extreme. Dr Winslow Hansen, from the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, New York, lead author of the study comments: “Forests influence a number of ecological factors. Trees sequester carbon emissions that would otherwise cause climate warming, support much of the planet’s biodiversity, and provide essential services such as fuel, food, and clean water and air. Human-caused shifts in mean climate and climate variability could fundamentally alter 21st-century forests with profound consequences for our planet and its ecosystem. The new Environmental Research: Ecology journal provides a platform for climate scientists to further develop, explore, and discover new policies to protect our ecosystem and combat climate change.” 

Dr Tim Smith, Associate Director at IOPP says: “This further expansion of our Environmental Research series builds upon the established reputation and publishing values of Environmental Research Letters and enhances the role we want IOP Publishing to have in serving a multidisciplinary field of great importance. The first articles in Environmental Research: Ecology as the latest addition to the portfolio provide an early glimpse of the quality and breadth of science that the ecology community can expect from a journal aimed at delivering a combination of outstanding publishing services and content for researchers worldwide.” 

Lithuanian researchers created new materials that might increase the stability of perovskite solar cells

A group of chemists from Kaunas University of Technology in Lithuania, the authors of numerous breakthrough innovations in the solar energy field, proposed yet another solution to increase the stability and performance of perovskite solar elements.

KAUNAS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
 Cross-linking effect provides resistance to the new compounds synthesised by Lithuanian chemists view more
Credit: And Unicorns

A group of chemists from Kaunas University of Technology in Lithuania, the authors of numerous breakthrough innovations in the solar energy field, proposed yet another solution to increase the stability and performance of perovskite solar elements. They synthesised a new class of carbazole-based cross-linkable materials, which are resistant to various environmental effects, including strong solvents used in the production of solar cells.

When applied as hole transporting layers, the new materials developed at Kaunas University of Technology (KTU) labs, helped achieve the 16.9% efficiency of the inverted-architecture perovskite cells at the first attempt. It is expected to reach higher efficiency upon optimisation.

New materials thermally polymerised to provide resistance

Organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite solar cells have been attracting worldwide attention as a competitive alternative to conventional silicon-based solar technologies. They are cheaper, more flexible and have higher power conversion efficiency. Scientists all over the world are working to solve challenges related to improving the stability and other features of the perovskite solar elements. These layered, new generation solar cells can have two architectonic structures – regular (n-i-p) and inverted (p-i-n) structures. In the latter, the hole transporting materials are deposited under the perovskite absorber layer.

“Although p-i-n cells have numerous advantages when compared to the perovskite solar cells of regular architecture, they have serious shortcomings. For instance, the hole transporting compounds should be able to withstand the strong polar solvents used to form light-absorbing perovskite layer, which is placed above,” explains Professor Vytautas Getautis, chief researcher at KTU Faculty of Chemical Technology.

To solve this problem, in p-i-n architectures polymers are often used as hole transporting materials. However, due to solubility issues, a polymer layer is not easy to form; moreover, it is difficult to control the recurrence of reactions and synthesise the same structure. Aiming to solve this issue, KTU researchers made a hole transporting layer of carbazole-based molecules, which then was thermally polymerized in situ to reach cross-linking effect.

“The cross-linked polymer has a three-dimensional structure. It is very resistant to various effects, including the strong solvents used while forming a light-absorbing perovskite layer. We used several groups of molecules and developed materials, which, while used as a hole transporting layer, can improve the efficiency of an inverted perovskite solar cell to almost 17 per cent,” says a PhD student Šarūnė Daškevičiūtė-Gegužienė, who synthesised these compounds.

The above-described invention was featured as a cover article in Chemical Communications, published by the Royal Society of Chemistry, UK. The cover image was created by And Unicorns, a Lithuanian design company.

Authoring record-breaking tandem solar cell

The research group headed by Prof Getautis has developed numerous cutting-edge inventions, aimed at improving the efficiency of solar cells. Among them are synthesised compounds, which self-assemble into a molecule-thin layer that acts as a hole transporting material. The silicone-perovskite tandem solar produced using the said materials reached an efficiency of over 29 per cent. According to Prof Getautis, the latter tandem combination will soon become the commercially available alternative to silicone-based solar cells – more efficient and cheaper.

“Our field of research aims to improve the existing technologies for perovskite solar elements and in this field, we have achieved the best results with the self-assembling-monolayer technology. However, science is often developed in multiple directions, as we need to explore ways to use solar energy the best we can,” says Prof Getautis.

Although perovskite cells are a novelty compared to silicone-based solar technologies, there are several companies which have already commercialised different products based on perovskite technology. Among them are flexible semi-transparent interior elements, wearable electronics to control the wildlife population, and various architectural solutions. And this is just the beginning.

According to Prof Getautis, of all renewables, solar energy has the largest potential and is the least exploited. However, thanks to the new research, this field is developing exponentially. It is estimated that by 2050, around half of the electricity used on earth will be produced from solar energy.

“Solar energy is entirely green – it is pollution-free, and the installed solar farms don’t require much maintenance. Keeping in mind current events, and the energy crisis, more and more people are interested in installing solar power plants in their homes or owing a share of a solar farm. It is a future of energy,” Prof Getautis is convinced.

UT Institute of Agriculture receives grant to tackle digital literacy

4-H tech changemakers program to facilitate greater digital access

Grant and Award Announcement

UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE INSTITUTE OF AGRICULTURE

The University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture recently received a grant to implement 4-H Tech Changemakers, a unique program that enables teen leaders to learn and train on topics focused on digital literacy, broadband access and evidence-based programming to enhance their communities and bridge STEM (science, technology, education and math) gaps, no matter their socioeconomic status and demographic. In turn, the teen leaders will share their knowledge with peers and adults within their neighborhoods. The grant will assist Tennessee communities that need it most.

Approximately 37% of Tennesseans do not have home access to high-speed, broadband internet and many cannot afford broadband subscription services or the necessary access devices. A lack of digital readiness and literacy poses lifelong consequences for Tennesseans across educational attainment, race, age and socioeconomic status. The COVID-19 pandemic magnified this reality, increasing the digital divide between those who have internet and those who do not.

The absence of digital literacy can lead to missed opportunities for students choosing a field of study or for job-seeking adults. “Although opportunities in the STEM field continue to experience growth, statistics indicate a deficit among underrepresented students pursuing these areas of study and employment,” said Daniel Collins, program lead and state Extension specialist with Tennessee 4-H Youth Development.

The program is also designed to actively recruit underrepresented adult participants, providing them with a STEM-forward curriculum that bolsters greater digital literacy. “Our goal is to teach digital literacy skills to approximately 5,000 adults, with an emphasis on preparing them for the workforce and helping them achieve greater economic opportunities,” said Collins. “Up to half of these adults will be from diverse backgrounds.”

The Tennessee 4-H program currently offers STEM programming across the state. The 4-H Tech Changemakers program will use the existing STEM programming platform and leverage the statewide presence of 4-H in all 95 counties to enable broad access to tools and content.

The new program will provide students with enhanced opportunities to engage in STEM education with nontraditional methods, dismantling system barriers to provide a more impactful educational experience. With the enhancement of virtual platforms, students will have opportunities to participate in virtual STEM clubs and other opportunities through UT’s Tickle College of Engineering. Collaboration with departments and colleges within the University of Tennessee system will be a key component to implementing the program.

In addition to Collins, project members include Sreedhar Upendram with the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Justin Crowe and Jamie Harris with Tennessee 4-H Youth Development.

The one-year grant is funded by the National 4-H Council, along with support from Land O’Lakes, Microsoft, Tractor Supply Company and Verizon.

“The UT Institute of Agriculture, through our faculty and 4-H Program leadership, is pleased to cooperate with many partners to extend STEM opportunities to all of the state’s youth,” said Carrie Castille, senior vice chancellor and senior vice president of UTIA. “This sort of program is a great example of faculty and outside collaborators working together to promote greater success for all.”

Through its land-grant mission of research, teaching and extension, the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture touches lives and provides Real. Life. Solutions. utia.tennessee.edu.

Do say gay: Understanding the significance of inclusive sexuality discussions between parent and son

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOL OF NURSING

 

IMAGE: PENN NURSING’S DALMACIO FLORES, PHD, ACRN, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF NURSING IN THE DEPARTMENT OF FAMILY AND COMMUNITY HEALTH view more 

CREDIT: PENN NURSING

PHILADELPHIA (September 7, 2022) – Data show that Generation Z youth are coming out at earlier ages than previous generations of sexual- and gender-diverse individuals. However, little is known about LGBTQ youth’s perspectives on how or if parent-child discussions at home about health and sexuality sufficiently meet their sexual education needs.

A new study – published today – led by an investigator from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing (Penn Nursing) has explored the perspectives of gay, bisexual, and queer (GBQ) cisgender males about inclusive parent-child sex communication. It underscores the importance of inclusive sexuality conversations between parent and child for closeted, questioning, or even heterosexual youth.

The article detailing the study, “Do Say Gay: Inclusive Sexuality Discussions for Out, Closeted, Questioning, and Straight Youth,” has been published online first in the Journal of Pediatric Healthcare. It shares study participants’ insight about how inclusive conversations about sex and sexuality can reduce internalized GBQ stigma and promote a sense of support among adolescents, as their parents are often a trusted resource for information and guidance.

“Additionally, findings from this study underscore the significance of inclusive sex communication between parents and their children, and that the benefits of these conversations can reach beyond GBQ youth such that even heterosexual children who receive inclusive information from parents can be  understanding and potential allies of their GBQ peers,” says Penn Nursing’s Dalmacio Flores, PhD, ACRN, Assistant Professor of Nursing in the Department of Family and Community Health and lead investigator of the study.

The study further describes the importance of such parent-child discussions, including influencing sexual behavior and sexual health to help delay adolescent sexual debut and reduce early HIV/STI infections. Co-authors of the article include Lloyd Allen, PhD, of Wayne State University and Jacqueline A. Bannon, PhD, RN, of Northwestern University.

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About the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing

The University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing is one of the world’s leading schools of nursing. For the seventh year in a row, it is ranked the #1 nursing school in the world by QS University. In a first for any undergraduate Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program in the country, our BSN program is ranked # 1 in the 2022 U.S. News & World Report’s Best Colleges rankings. Penn Nursing is also consistently ranked highly in the U.S. News & World Report annual list of best graduate schools and is ranked as one of the top schools of nursing in funding from the National Institutes of Health. Penn Nursing prepares nurse scientists and nurse leaders to meet the health needs of a global society through innovation in research, education, and practice. Follow Penn Nursing on: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, & Instagram.  

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JOURNAL

Journal of Pediatric Health Care

ARTICLE TITLE

Do Say Gay: Inclusive Sexuality Discussions for Out, Closeted, Questioning, and Straight Youth

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

7-Sep-2022

Can achieving beneficial ketone levels improve metabolic health in the military?

Ohio State scientists will seek answers with $10 million Department of Defense grant

Grant and Award Announcement

OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A series of upcoming studies will explore whether the grind of active-duty military life and veterans’ disproportionately high incidence of chronic illness could be tamed by lifestyle interventions designed to achieve a metabolic state of nutritional ketosis.

This work, led by Ohio State University exercise science and biomedical researchers, is funded by a $10 million grant from a U.S. Department of Defense program focused on improving the health of military service members, veterans and the American public.

“Many Americans, including a significant number of military service members – and especially veterans – are suffering from poor metabolic health,” said principal investigator Jeff Volek, professor of human sciences at Ohio State. “Despite billions of dollars in investments by the private and public sectors, traditional drug and lifestyle treatments have had limited success in curtailing the complications attributed to poor metabolic health, which include disrupted sleep, obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart failure and chronic kidney disease.

“We expect that whatever we find here will have huge relevance across the board both within and outside the military.”

Two-plus decades of studies have included Volek’s findings that the very-low-carbohydrate/high-fat ketogenic diet, which converts fat into ketones used by cells in the body and brain as an alternative to glucose, does not drive up saturated fat in the blood, can help endurance athletes burn fat and holds promise at keeping soldiers fit for service. The popularity of the diet, and scientific evidence of its health benefits and weight-loss results, has spawned the development and marketing of products that can be ingested to rapidly elevate blood ketones without a change in eating habits.

“A big part of the grant is studying both of those strategies to augment ketosis – the ketogenic diet and ketone-based beverages,” Volek said. The ketone drinks, formulated as ketone esters, are designed to put the body in nutritional ketosis – the human body’s state when it has greater access to ketones as both a fuel and signaling molecule.

“Does the ketogenic diet produce different effects than the ketone esters? Is one better than the other? My work has found the ketogenic diet provides robust health benefits, but there could be some health benefits attributed to taking ketones and not changing the diet. It’s a whole new area of investigation.”

Studies exploring ketone esters’ impact on blood ketone levels and factors influencing individual variation in response to ingesting them are one of four independent project areas that will run concurrently. The other three are intended to expand knowledge about nutritional ketosis in the context of addressing life circumstances and health problems of particular concern for the military: inadequate sleep, chronic kidney disease and heart failure.

“This will be the first work to specifically explore how ketone esters and a ketogenic diet impact clinical outcomes, such as cardiac function and exercise capacity, in patients with heart failure,” said Orlando Simonetti, professor of cardiovascular medicine at Ohio State and co-leader of one of the projects. “We’re hopeful that the imaging and physiological performance data we collect in this study will pave the way for future research on nutritional ketosis as a preventive and treatment for cardiovascular disease.”

All branches of the military are affected by the general population’s poor metabolic health, which complicates recruitment, lowers soldier readiness and can harm post-service quality of life. The disrupted sleep and range of stressors associated with training and active duty can have compounding effects on both the body and the brain, increasing risk for obesity and reduced mobility as well as mental health and neurological problems later in life.

The grant, a DOD Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program – Focused Program Award, is called STAK, short for Strategies to Augment Ketosis. Volek’s lab is leading coordination of the work. The Buck Institute, an aging research firm, and Virta Health, a company co-founded by Volek that has created a nutritional therapy program to treat and reverse type 2 diabetes at scale, have received sub-awards under the STAK grant to lend additional expertise.

The funding supports four projects:

• Optimization of ketone delivery strategies: Clinical studies will explore ketone ester dosing, formulation and timing of delivery, as well as study participant health markers, to gauge the supplements’ physiological and metabolic effects. Researchers aim to create evidence-based guidelines for use of ketone ester compounds based on individual characteristics and soldier performance requirements. Volek’s lab will partner with the Buck Institute on this project.
• Ketone-conferred resiliency against sleep restriction: High-quality sleep is key to military mission readiness and success, but isn’t always possible to get in the field. This trial will gauge the extent to which ketone esters and a ketogenic diet reduce detrimental effects of sleep loss on cognitive and physical performance in ROTC cadets under demanding physical conditions. Project leader William Kraemer, in human sciences at Ohio State, will collaborate on the work with Ohio State brain imaging and sleep specialists.
• Ketone therapy to improve exercise tolerance in heart failure: Simonetti, a frequent research collaborator with Volek, will co-lead this project with Ohio State Wexner Medical Center cardiologist Yuchi Han. The team will examine effects of ketone esters and a ketogenic diet in patients with type 2 diabetes and heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, a type of the disease marked by typical heart failure symptoms despite the heart’s close-to-normal blood pumping capacity. A randomized, double-blind, crossover trial will compare exercise capacity and cardiac function in participants taking ketone esters, eating a ketogenic diet or eating a mixed standard of care diet. Ohio State researchers will partner with Virta Health, using the company’s continuous remote care model to manage patient participation for six months after completion of the trial.
• Delay or prevention of progression of diabetic nephropathy: Virta Health scientists will lead this two-year longitudinal study, examining whether the continuous remote care model – which includes biomarker monitoring – and a uniformly delivered ketogenic diet slow or even reverse progression to chronic kidney disease in veterans with type 2 diabetes.

Recruitment and enrollment of study participants is expected to begin in early 2023. Ketone esters used in the studies were developed by Juvenescence.

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Contact: Jeff Volek, Volek.1@osu.edu

Written by Emily Caldwell, Caldwell.151@osu.edu

GENDER IS A SOCIAL CONSTRUCT

These female hummingbirds evolved to look like males — apparently to evade aggression

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON

 

IMAGE: A WHITE-NECKED JACOBIN HUMMINGBIRD WITH MALE-LIKE PLUMAGE. view more 

CREDIT: IRENE MENDEZ CRUZ

For Immediate Release

Sept. 7, 2022

White-necked jacobin hummingbirds sport a colorful blue-and-white plumage as juveniles. When they grow into adulthood, males retain this dazzling pattern, while females develop a more “muted” palette of green and white — at least, most females. Curiously, about 20% of females defy the norm and retain male-like plumage into adulthood.

“Why do some female jacobins look like males? It’s a mystery made up of multiple pieces,” said Jay Falk, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Washington. “Is there a benefit? Is there a cost? Is it just appearance, or do these females also act like males?”

Now those pieces are falling into place. In research published Sept. 7 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Falk and co-authors at the UW, Cornell University and Columbia University report that adult female white-necked jacobins with male-like plumage are mimicking male appearance — but not male behavior. In addition, their strength and body size are similar not to males, but to fellow females with muted plumage.

The study shows that the 1 in 5 adult females with male-like plumage are engaging in “deceptive mimicry”: They are essentially trying to pass themselves off as males, without acting like them. In the process they receive quite a benefit. As Falk and his colleagues reported in a paper published last year in Current Biology, females with male-like plumage suffer less aggression from males compared to females with the more typical muted plumage, and can hang out longer at feeders.

Falk began this research as a graduate student at Cornell University and continued it as a postdoctoral fellow with co-author Alejandro Rico-Guevara, a UW assistant professor of biology and curator of ornithology at the UW’s Burke Museum of Natural History & Culture.

White-necked jacobins are common in tropical lowlands of the Americas. Males of this species, put simply, are bullies. They defend territories, chase rivals away from food sources, court females and fight. That aggressive behavior relies on an underlying difference in body size and physiology: Male jacobins are larger and are better at combative flight compared to dull-colored females.

An unanswered question from Falk’s previous study was whether females with male-plumage also displayed male-like flight power or behavior. At a field site in Panama, he briefly captured male jacobins and females with both types of plumage. He discovered that females — regardless of plumage — had essentially identical body and wing sizes, whereas males were slightly larger. Before releasing the birds, Falk also tested their “burst power” — or muscle capacity during flight — by seeing how high they could fly while lifting a chain of small, weighted beads. Females of both types of plumage had identical burst power, while males could lift more on average.  

Using data from radio-tagged birds in the wild, the team also discovered that more males fed in a “territorial” pattern — spending longer amounts of time at a smaller number of feeding sites. All females, regardless of plumage, showed the opposite pattern: feeding for shorter periods of time at sites across a larger territory.

“Females with male-like plumage don’t seem to be behaving any differently than other females,” said Falk. “All evidence instead indicates that females that look like males are engaging in deceptive mimicry.”

Many examples of deceptive mimicry occur between species: a harmless species will mimic the coloration of a noxious species as an anti-predator defense. In the Americas, for example, some non-venomous kingsnake species have evolved colorful banding patterns that resemble venomous species in the same area, such as coral snakes. Research showed that this deceptive mimicry decreased predation of the kingsnakes, which are not venomous. What Falk and his colleagues found in white-necked jacobins appears to be an example of deceptive mimicry within a species.

Scientists have reported females with male-like plumage in other hummingbird species. If so, male mimicry within hummingbird species may be more common than currently known. Next year, Falk will move to the University of Colorado Boulder to study the genetic differences between females with muted and male-like plumage — and potentially identify how this deception evolved.

But differences between the sexes are not the whole story.

“Even when I found average differences in female and male morphology, burst power or behavior, I also found quite a bit of overlap between the sexes,” said Falk. “That indicates that sex isn't the only important factor, and that variation among and between individuals plays an important role.”

Falk and Rico-Guevara are currently studying the role of individual variation in these traits, regardless of sex.

Additional co-authors on the study are Michael Webster of Cornell University and Dustin Rubinstein of Columbia University. The research was funded by Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, National Science Foundation, Cornell University, the Walt Halperin Endowed Professorship at the UW, the Washington Research Foundation, the Society for the Study of Evolution and the American Society of Naturalists.

A white-necked jacobin hummingbird with male-like plumage.

CREDIT

Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Illustrations of the muted plumage typical of most adult female white-necked jacobin hummingbirds, shown on the left, and the blue-and-white plumage of all males and approximately 20% of adult females, on the right.

CREDIT

Jillian Ditner

Juvenile white-necked jacobin hummingbirds have a bright blue-and-white plumage, which all males retain as adults. Most female white-necked jacobin hummingbirds develop a “muted” plumage as adults, but approximately 20% develop male-like plumage.

CREDIT

Jillian Ditner

For more information, contact Falk at jjfalk@uw.edu.  

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JOURNAL

Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences

DOI

10.1098/rspb.2022.0332 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Intersexual social dominance mimicry drives female hummingbird polymorphism

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

7-Sep-2022