Sleeping fish? From sharks to salmon, guppies to groupers, here's how they grab a snooze

9/6/2022
 The Conversation

© Giordano Cipriani/The Image Bank via Getty Images A large group of yellowfin tuna swimming off the coast of Italy. Like all fish, they sleep, but it's not like human sleep.

Could you explain how fish sleep? Do they drift away on currents, or do they anchor themselves to a particular location when they sleep? – Laure and Neeraj, New York

From the goldfish in your aquarium to a bass in a lake to the sharks in the sea – 35,000 species of fish are alive today, more than 3 trillion of them.

All over the world, they swim in hot springs, rivers, ponds and puddles. They glide through freshwater and saltwater. They survive in the shallows and in the darkest depths of the ocean, more than five miles down.

© Xiáng Zhèng/EyeEm 

 Stingrays are a type of fish too, but they are boneless.

Just like you, fish need to sleep

Of those trillions of fish, three major types exist: bony fish, like trout and sardines; jawless fish, like the slimy hagfish; and sharks and rays, which are boneless – instead, they have skeletons made of firm yet flexible tissue called cartilage.

And all of them, every last one, needs to rest. Whether you’re a human or a haddock, sleep is essential. It gives a body time to repair itself, and a brain a chance to reset and declutter.

As a marine biologist, I’ve always wondered how fish can rest. After all, in any body of water, predators are all over the place, lurking around, ready to eat them. But somehow they manage, like virtually all creatures on Earth.

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How they do it

Scientists are still learning about how fish sleep. What we do know: Their sleep is not like ours.

For one thing, people are pretty much out of it when they sleep. While a loud noise might wake you up, you’re mostly unaware of your surroundings. But fish stay aware enough to detect an approaching predator – at least most of the time.

It does appear that most fish have sleep cycles like us. Aquarium fish sleep between seven to 12 hours each day. Many fish are active during daylight and sleep at night, though for some, like numerous types of eels, rays and sharks, it’s the reverse.

How can you tell if a fish is asleep? Most fish don’t have eyelids, so their eyes don’t close. That alone makes it hard to tell when they’re resting.

But if you watch fish in an aquarium, look closely. You’ll see how they stop swimming around and remain very still, sort of hovering in the water. Their gills will pump less too. For fish, that’s sleeping.

Sleeping with the enemy

Where do fish sleep? Sometimes right out in the open. But often they’re at or near the bottom. If they can, they squeeze in a spot near rocks or plants so predators can’t get them and currents can’t sweep them away.

Some fish go even further. Parrotfish wrap a cocoon of mucus around themselves and sleep in the coral. Sounds like a lot of effort – essentially, making your own sleeping bag every night – but the cocoon protects the parrotfish not just from predators, but from parasites.


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How sharks sleep

There are, however, many species of fish that must swim constantly just to breathe. Think about that – stop swimming, and you die. This is true for many sharks, like great whites.

So how do they sleep if they’re always on the move? Instead of stopping altogether, sharks simply slow their swimming, or swim into a current. That’s sort of like sleep – at least the sharks seem less aware of what’s going on around them.

There are species of shark, like the draughtsboard shark, that breathe without swimming. Scientists recently observed this shark – which is 3 feet (1 meter) long and has a flat head – sleeping on the bottom.

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Whales and dolphins

Whales and dolphins are not fish – they’re mammals, like cats, dogs and people. They spend their lives in the ocean, but they can’t breathe underwater. Instead, they periodically rise to the surface and take in air through their blowhole, which is on the top of their heads.

If they went into a deep sleep, the way people do, whales and dolphins would drown; they wouldn’t be aware enough to come to the surface to breathe. So they sleep by resting one half of their brain at a time. The other half remembers to rise to the surface, breathe and stay just alert enough to spot danger.

Is it possible that some fish might do the same thing? Scientists are trying to find out, but still don’t know. There is so much more to learn about how fish sleep. Marine biologists like me have many questions, and we spend our careers in oceans, rivers, lakes and laboratories trying to find answers. But I’ll leave you with this, something I’ve always wondered about: Do fish dream?

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. 

Saudi Arabia Launches Falcon Conservation Program With Global Ambition

Joseph Hammond, Zenger News 9/7/2022


RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Three seconds. Saudi Arabia's ambitious falcon reintroduction program often hinges on the brief moment when a falcon is shown it new home for the first time.

© Saudi Falcon Club/Zenger 

A rare falcon for sale at the 2022 International Saudi Falcons and Hunting Exhibition near Riyadh. Saudi Arabian authorities have launched a number of conservation efforts for the rare birds of prey.

Under new protocols being developed within the program, a falcon is brought to its potential habitat for the first time under a hood. Bred in captivity, a falcon can find the Saudi Arabian wilderness at first mysterious. The birds must be introduced slowly to the habitat.

"You uncover the hood for three seconds. Then you cover it back and take it home," said Hussam Al-Huzaimi, the CEO of the Saudi Falcons Club. "Then three days later you bring it back and do something different. This way you start to intrigue the bird. It starts to get interested in what it is seeing and feel safe."

Saudi Arabia's Hadad program for the reintroduction of falcons to Saudi Arabia is a partnership between researchers, falconers, and wildlife volunteers who are developing new and researched based methods to repopulate the kingdom with birds of prey, techniques they hope to one day apply elsewhere around the globe. The program brings together multiple Saudi entities as well as international entities, including aviary experts from Oregon State University.

The migratory nature of the birds makes their lives peripatetic. When a falcon is introduced into Saudi Arabia's nature reserves, there is no guarantee the bird will stay. Each new site is chosen carefully and researchers have to pick up on careful clues, like stained rocks that suggest at one point in the past the site was home to a falcon nest. Numerous site across Saudi Arabia suggest it could support a larger falcon population in the future.

During the first year of the program in 2021, 33 female falcons bred in captivity were introduced to areas with male falcons already present. The eventual couplings produced 47 chicks. This year, another 24 females were introduced, which was equally successful. So far the breeding program has produced 151 chicks.

The 2022 International Saudi Falcons and Hunting Exhibition attracted some 500,000 visitors to a specially-designed exhibition facility in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Falcon Club/Zenger

The Hadad program was recognized in 2021 for its efforts at falcon preservation at a conference of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in Marseille which was opened by French President Emmanuel Macron. The accolades are important for the Hadad program in part because it is the ambition of the Saudi Falcon Club to fund similar falcon reintroduction efforts around the globe.

There are four species of falcon present in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia: the Barbary falcon and the Lanner falcon, while the Saker falcon and peregrine are transient visitors.

Today it's estimated that roughly half of the world's falconers call the Middle East home. Like any sport, the participants are always looking for a competitive edge. As such, the 2022 International Saudi Falcons and Hunting Exhibition brought half a million visitors to a purpose-build exhibition hall north of Riyadh. Among them were many local falconers seeking to improve the ability of their hunting birds.

UFO, a new drone factory that focuses solely on drones for falconry applications and is supported by two Italian falconers and researchers, made a popular presentation during the event.

For many falconers, the bond built with their birds is a special one. 

Saudi Falcon Club/Zenger

"This technology is used to muscle up the hawks and making them more competitive against a non-biological target. It also helps rehabilitate hawks," said Giovanni Granati, an Italian falconer and developer of the UFO drone factory.

Drones used as practice game can help keep falcons training while local populations of game birds like the houbara bustard replenish. Indeed, both falcons and many of their traditional prey are endangered or threatened species in various parts of the world.

The Imam Turki bin Abdullah Royal Nature Reserve Development Authority announced in August that it had launched a houbara breeding center, the latest chapter in the kingdom's decades old effort to help the species.

The Saudi Falcon Club enforces rigorous standards to ensure the birds on display and for sale are no longer being captured in the wild, as traditionally captured falcons were often released at the end of the season. A starter bird could be had for just a few thousand while the most expensive can bring in hundreds of thousands at auction. Last year, gyrfalcon earned a record $500,000 during the exhibition's auction.

Deep Roots

A few hours drive from Riyadh where the Saudi Falcons Club and the exhibition center are based are several archeological sites associated with the Neolithic Al Magar civilization.

 Hussam Al-Huzaimi, the CEO of the Saudi Falcons Club, is passionate about the need to preserve falcons, their prey, and their habitat for future generations. Saudi Falcon Club/Zenger

Al-Huzaimi is quick to point out that among the remains found deep in the desert is evidence of horse domestication and dog domestication. Archaeologists working in the desert found evidence of falconry as well.

Yet, you never really can domesticate a bird of prey, he points out.

"You have to build a bond and it can be lost in an instant. Even a bird you have had for 10 or even 20 years, it can leave you just like that for any reason," Al-Huzaimi said with a soft snap of his fingers.

Falconers must spend time with their birds daily to build a strong bond to avoid such an eventuality. Each bird takes much care and when traveling internationally from Saudi Arabia they must have an aviary passport to protect against illegal trafficking. For Al-Huzaimi and the thousands of falconers around the world, the hard work associated with the hobby is worth it.

"When you have a bird of prey, a living falcon just sitting on your arm looking right back at you, the feeling is just incomparable," Al-Huzaimi said.

This story was provided to Newsweek by Zenger News.

Cancer screening gaps highlight urgent need to address health inequities, according to NCCN policy summit

National Comprehensive Cancer Network’s #NCCNPolicy Summit, featuring White House Moonshot Coordinator and representatives from CDC, NCI, and USPSTF, examines critical need for improvements in cancer prevention and early detection across the United States

Meeting Announcement

NATIONAL COMPREHENSIVE CANCER NETWORK

 

IMAGE: DR. DANIELLE CARNIVAL, WHITE HOUSE MOONSHOT COORDINATOR, ADDRESSES CROWD AT NCCN POLICY SUMMIT. view more 

CREDIT: NCCN

PLYMOUTH MEETING, PA [September 16, 2022] — Today, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) hosted a policy summit to examine practice changes and trends in legislative and regulatory efforts that affect patient access to cancer screening and risk reduction. Speakers included Danielle Carnival, PhD, Coordinator, White House Moonshot Initiative; Lisa Richardson, MD, MPH, Director, Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); Philip Castle, PhD, MPH, Director, Division of Cancer Prevention, Senior Investigator, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute (NCI); and Carol M. Mangione, MD, Chair, United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), Barbara A. Levey & Gerald S. Levey Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

During the summit, speakers and panelists explored the current landscape for cancer screening and early detection, along with the continued evolution of risk identification and risk-reduction strategies. The conversations were dominated by several hot topics in health care, including:

• COVID-19 Pandemic Impact on Screening Access
• Equity and Disparities
• Social Determinants of Health
• Personal, Practice, and Population-Level Interventions (e.g. smoking cessation, human papillomavirus vaccination)
• Lifestyle Factors (e.g. exercise and nutrition)
• Potential Benefits and Harms of Novel Technology (e.g. multi-cancer early detection)
• Digital User Experience (e.g. telehealth)
• Updated Screening Guidelines
• Coverage and Reimbursement

For panel member Maimah Karmo, Founder & CEO, Tigerlily Foundation, the conversation was particularly personal: “I am Black woman who was diagnosed with aggressive, Stage 2B breast cancer at a young age. I am alive today because I had a mother who educated me about my body, breast health, and about the importance of self-advocating. Due to early detection, I found a lump early, and even though I was dismissed by a healthcare provider, I insisted upon screening and a biopsy, which led to my diagnosis and treatment, and I am alive today. I made a promise to God that I would do everything in my power to ensure young women and women facing disparities had every access to education, screening, and resources that enable them to be proactive with their health, and have a high quality of care and life. This work, Tigerlily, is my living legacy. I am living proof that early detection can save lives.”

“There is significant evidence supporting the fact that screening saves lives,” noted Robert W. Carlson, MD, Chief Executive Officer, NCCN. “Appropriate screening allows us to detect cancer at earlier stages, when there are more options for treatment and a higher likelihood for better outcomes. Sometimes screening can even prevent cancer by identifying pre-cancerous cells. This is why it is so important to address any setbacks in policy, communication, or resources that could result in people missing out on evidence-based, guideline-recommended cancer screenings.”

“We know a great deal about how to advance health and prevent cancer and other chronic diseases; the challenge now is more about implementation than discovery,” said panel member Ernest Hawk, MD, MPH, Vice President and Division Head of Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. “Impactful prevention has to be intentionally designed and must consistently reach all, especially those most in need, in order to achieve benefits across the lifespan. Effective implementation begins with communication, but cannot end there. It must be strategically prioritized and implemented through combinations of evidence-based actions operating at multiple levels and motivated by both personal and shared social responsibilities to effectively promote health and wellness.”

Addressing Disparities

The theme of disparities in care and how to address them continued during discussions throughout the day, with a particular focus on communication, outreach, and the allocation of resources.

“Racial and ethnic minorities and other socially- and economically-disadvantaged groups continue to experience a disproportionate share of avoidable deaths from cancer,” pointed out Chyke Doubeni, MBBS, MPH, Chief Health Equity Officer, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. “As we address ongoing public health threats, it is critical to direct resources to under-resourced communities to make evidence-based cancer preventive services accessible to people regardless of individual social or economic circumstances. We should focus on eliminating social and structural barriers that limit access to early detection and treatment and pay attention to how the ‘digital divide’ could deepen inequities. Insurance coverage should be provided for all follow-up tests needed to get the benefits of screening.”

“It’s all about equity. Everyone in every community deserves to be screened for cancer and not have to worry about challenges and barriers getting in the way,” said Nikia Clark, Senior Community Outreach and Engagement Manager, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. “Cancer centers must meet people where they are. Start with the basics of providing tailored cancer information to communities most in need, work with community stakeholders and organizations to help champion the effort and prioritize funding and resources for outreach initiatives for community engagement that will lead to earlier detection and lowering cancer risk.”

Looking Toward the Future

Speakers examined how cancer treatment and prevention has become more personalized over time, and where it is headed from here.

“Evolving genetic and genomic testing technologies are allowing individual cancer risks to be more precisely quantified; one-size-fits-all prevention approaches are being replaced by tailored strategies,” explained Michael Hall, MD, MS, Chair, Department of Clinical Genetics, Fox Chase Cancer Center. “Our improving understanding of genetic risks, environmental factors, and social determinants of health, combined with knowing a person’s history of adverse exposure (such as smoking or human papillomavirus) allows us to tailor to individuals and populations. This helps make sure limited public health resources are focused on the greatest needs, while sparing lower-risk individuals from unnecessary medical procedures. Genetic risk stratification is the long game for effective and efficient cancer prevention.”

Lisa Schlager, Vice President, Public Policy for Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered (FORCE) agreed: “Prevention and early detection are critical as we strive to reduce the U.S. cancer burden—especially in underserved, underrepresented populations. While we don’t know why many people get cancer, those affected by hereditary cancers are the poster children for prevention and early detection. NCCN has comprehensive guidelines on how to manage individuals with—or at increased risk of—hereditary cancers, who can be identified based on personal or family history of disease. We must be innovative and do more to facilitate effective risk stratification, identifying those at increased risk of cancer and ensuring that they have affordable access to the recommended screening and risk-reducing interventions. Ultimately, this will reduce health disparities and improve health outcomes.”

“One of the most important challenges in fighting cancer occurs well before diagnosis—ensuring effective screening,” said Eric Gratias, MD, FAAP, Chief Medical Officer, eviCore. “Even though early detection often leads to better outcomes, many patients still don’t get the regular screenings that they should. At eviCore, we’re focused on working with health plans and providers to break down barriers to care by providing patients with proactive education and hands-on support to make sure they get the right cancer screenings on the right schedule.”

The summit featured Clifford Goodman, PhD, The Lewin Group, as moderator. Dr. Carlson introduced the program while NCCN Senior Vice President, Chief Medical Officer Wui-Jin Koh, MD provided closing thoughts. Kate Mevis, Executive Director, U.S. Federal & State Vaccine Policy at Merck, Inc. provided perspective on the role of vaccination in cancer prevention.

The NCCN Policy Program will be hosting its annual Patient Advocacy Summit on December 2, 2022, examining Best Practices and Policies for Addressing the Health Needs of LGBT+ Cancer Patients and Survivors. Visit NCCN.org/summit for more information, and join the conversation with the hashtag #NCCNPolicy.

# # #

About the National Comprehensive Cancer Network

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) is a not-for-profit alliance of leading cancer centers devoted to patient care, research, and education. NCCN is dedicated to improving and facilitating quality, effective, equitable, and accessible cancer care so all patients can live better lives. The NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines®) provide transparent, evidence-based, expert consensus recommendations for cancer treatment, prevention, and supportive services; they are the recognized standard for clinical direction and policy in cancer management and the most thorough and frequently-updated clinical practice guidelines available in any area of medicine. The NCCN Guidelines for Patients® provide expert cancer treatment information to inform and empower patients and caregivers, through support from the NCCN Foundation®. NCCN also advances continuing education, global initiatives, policy, and research collaboration and publication in oncology. Visit NCCN.org for more information and follow NCCN on Facebook @NCCNorg, Instagram @NCCNorg, and Twitter @NCCN.

Image Permanence Institute at RIT receives significant grant to research plastic deterioration

Award from the Institute of Museum and Library Services provides more than $700,000 of support

Grant and Award Announcement

ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

The Image Permanence Institute (IPI), housed in RIT’s College of Art and Design, received a National Leadership Grant for Museums from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) for a research project titled, “Mapping Environmental Conditions That Prevent Plastic Deterioration While Contributing to Sustainable Preservation and Environmental Management.”

The grant funds three years of research into plastic deterioration of modern heritage collections, specifically their physical response to storage and display environments. The funds will support a 30-month post-doctoral researcher position and enable the purchase of advanced analytical instrumentation, namely a dynamic mechanical analyzer that can measure how objects physically respond to certain environmental conditions.

While the general perception of plastics is one of prevalence and persistence, their chemical and physical forms are known to change overtime, presenting a variety of challenges for their long-term care and preservation in collections.

“Cultural institutions and museums are trying to preserve materials that were not designed for long- term storage and display. Plastic objects were often mass-produced and manufacturers would change the plastics’ composition on a fairly regular basis,” said Emma Richardson, director of research at IPI. “So, trying to predict the lifetime of these objects can be challenging.”

Plastics have long been present in museums and cultural institution collections, but there is little research regarding how an object’s physical responses to its environment is influenced by the object’s material composition. These physical responses are not always problematic, according to Richardson, and this research aims to find the “tipping point” of when these responses may cause issues in a collection.

“If we can start to find a relationship between the different ingredients of the plastics and how these relate to the moisture content, temperature, and dimensional changes of the object, we may be able to predict when we get dimensional changes that are problematic within certain storage environments,” said Richardson. “Then, we can start to tailor the storage environments accordingly to the composition of our objects.”

Richardson says the outcome of this research may also enable museums and cultural institutions to employ more sustainable climate control protocols in their collection vaults, reducing an institution’s environmental impact.

Other staff members at IPI who will contribute to the research include Meredith Noyes, research scientist, and Al Carver-Kubik, preservation researcher.

IPI has conducted research about plastics in cultural institution collections in the past. However, as with most preservation research globally, the previous work has primarily focused on how plastics degrade chemically.

For more information about IPI, or to inquire about the research, go to the IPI website or contact Emma Richardson.

Study shows hay fever among school children leads to worse asthma outcomes

Half of children diagnosed with both asthma and hay fever were not receiving proper care and medication for their condition

UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER MEDICAL CENTER

A study of school children conducted by University of Rochester Medical Center researchers has found that the majority of children with asthma also reported having allergic rhinitis, or hay fever. Symptoms of hay fever include runny nose, sneezing, congestion and sinus pressure, and can contribute to asthma. The study, led by Jessica Stern, M.D., an assistant professor in the department of Pediatrics and division of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology, found that children with both asthma and hay fever had worse asthma outcomes.

This study reviewed data from three NIH-funded trials (led by Jill Halterman, M.D., professor in the department of Pediatrics) of 1,029 Rochester school children with asthma. The primary goal of the trials was to evaluate whether providing children with preventive asthma medications in school would improve their asthma symptoms. While most children participating in these trials had improved asthma symptoms when they received their medications, a subgroup of children did not improve. This prompted the researchers to look at other health concerns that might have prevented the children from having a full treatment response.

“Through our study, we found that many of the children who did not report improved symptoms had allergic rhinitis in addition to asthma, and these children had more asthma symptoms, used their rescue medication more, and missed more school days compared to those without allergic rhinitis,” said Stern.

Importantly, less than half of the children with hay fever were receiving proper treatment for their symptoms, including nasal sprays and recommended anti-histamines; nor had they been seen by asthma or allergy specialists.

“This is critical because it highlights gaps in care and needed treatments, which may contribute to the disparities in asthma outcomes that we see in children who primarily identify as Black or Latino, or are from low resourced communities,” said Stern. “These findings also encourage a focus on contributing environmental factors and the social determinants of health for these children. The burden of allergic disease is often under-recognized and undertreated in historically marginalized populations, and we have an opportunity and obligation to address this to improve outcomes.”

Dr. Stern will be continuing this work to understand the multiple influences in a child’s life that impact their asthma. She has grant funding from the Robert A. Winn Diversity in Clinical Trials Career Development Award, NHLBI, and the URMC Quality Institute.  

 “We are working to create a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary approach to overcome structural obstacles to equitable care for children with asthma. This will involve collaboration with caregivers and patients to plan systems of care that work for them. We understand that families are the experts, and we have to listen to what they think,” said Stern.

From analog to digital

How a University of Missouri researcher and colleagues have helped advance the field of anatomical research from scalpels, scissors to 3D models using artificial intelligence.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-COLUMBIA

 

IMAGE: CONTRAST IMAGING DATA AND MACHINE LEARNING APPROACHES CAN NOW MODEL THE 3D ARCHITECTURE OF JAW MUSCULATURE. view more 

CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI

There was once a time, not so long ago, when scientists like Casey Holliday needed scalpels, scissors and even their own hands to conduct anatomical research. But now, with recent advances in technology, Holliday and his colleagues at the University of Missouri are using artificial intelligence (AI) to see inside an animal or a person — down to a single muscle fiber — without ever making a cut.

Holliday, an associate professor of pathology and anatomical sciences, said his lab in the MU School of Medicine is one of only a handful of labs in the world currently using this high-tech approach.

AI can teach computer programs to identify a muscle fiber in an image, such as a CAT scan. Then, researchers can use that data to develop detailed 3D computer models of muscles to better understand how they work together in the body for motor control, Holliday said.

Holliday, along with some of his current and former students, did that recently when they began to study the bite force of a crocodile.

“The unique thing about crocodile heads is that they are flat, and most animals that have evolved to bite really hard, like hyenas, lions, T. rexes and even humans have really tall skulls, because all those jaw muscles are oriented vertically,” Holliday said. “They’re designed that way so they put a big vertical bite force into whatever they're eating. But a crocodile’s muscles are oriented more horizontally.”

The 3D models of muscle architecture could help the team determine how muscles are oriented in crocodile heads to help increase their bite force. Helping to lead this effort is one of Holliday’s former students, Kaleb Sellers, who is now a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Chicago.

“Jaw muscles have long been studied in mammals with the assumption that relatively simple descriptors of muscle anatomy can tell you a great deal about skull function,” Sellers said. “This study shows how complex jaw muscle anatomy is in a reptile group.”

Holliday’s lab first began experimenting with 3D imaging several years ago. Some of their early findings were published in 2019 with a study in Integrative Organismal Biology that showed the development of a 3D model of the skeletal muscles in a European starling.

Transitioning into a digital world

Historically, Holliday said anatomical research — and much of what he did growing up — involved dissecting animals with a scalpel or scissors, or what he calls an “analog” approach. He was first introduced to the benefits of using digital imaging to study anatomy when he joined the “Sue the T. rex” project in the late 1990s. To date, it remains one of the largest and most well-preserved Tyrannosaurus rex specimens ever discovered.

Holliday recalls the moment when the T. rex’s giant skull was transported to Boeing’s Santa Susana Field Laboratory in California to be imaged in one of the aerospace company’s massive CAT scanners normally used to scan jet engines on commercial airplanes.

“At the time, it was the only CAT scanner in the world big enough to fit a T. rex skull, and also had the power needed to push X-rays through rocks,” Holliday said. “Coming out of college I had looked at becoming a radiology technician, but with the Sue project I was learning all about how they CAT scanned this thing, and that really caught my fancy.”

Nowadays, Holliday said many of his current and former students at MU are learning to understand anatomy by using the “cutting edge” imaging and modeling methods that he and his colleagues are creating. One of those students is Emily Lessner, a recent MU alumna who developed her passion for “long-dead animals” by working in Holliday’s lab.

“The digitization process is not only useful to our lab and research,” Lessner said. “It makes our work shareable with other researchers to help hasten scientific advancement, and we can also share them with the public as educational and conservation tools. Specifically, my work looking at the soft tissues and bony correlates in these animals has not only created hundreds of future questions to answer, but also revealed many unknowns. In that way, not only did I gain imaging skills to help with my future work, but I now have more than a career-worth of avenues to explore.”

Holliday said plans are also in the works to take their 3D anatomical models a step further by studying how human hands have evolved from their evolutionary ancestors. The project, which is still in its early stages, recently received a grant from the Leakey Foundation. Joining Holliday on the project will be two of his colleagues at MU, Carol Ward, a Curators Distinguished Professor of pathology and anatomical sciences, and Kevin Middleton, an associate professor of biological sciences.

While about 90% of the research done in Holliday’s lab involves studying things that exist in the modern world, he said the data they collect can also inform the fossil record, like additional knowledge about how the T. rex moved and functioned.

“With better knowledge of actual muscle anatomy, we can really figure out how the T. rex could really do fine motor controls, and more nuanced behaviors, such as bite force and feeding behavior,” Holliday said.

Editor’s Note:

“New frontiers in imaging, anatomy, and mechanics of crocodylian jaw muscles,” was published in The Anatomical Record. Other authors include Kaleb Sellers, Emily Lessner, Kevin Middleton and Conner Verhulst at MU, Corrine Cranor at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Stephan Lautenschlager at University of Birmingham and Matthew Brown and Matthew Colbert at University of Texas-Austin. Funding was provided by grants from the National Science Foundation (EAR/SEB 1631684, NSF IOS PMB 1457319, EAR-1762458 and DBI-1902242), Missouri Research Board, University of Missouri Research Council and Jackson School of Geosciences Geology Foundation. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the funding agencies.

CAPTION

Contrast imaging data and machine learning approaches can now model the 3D architecture of jaw musculature

CREDIT

University of Missouri

JOURNAL

The Anatomical Record

DOI

10.1002/ar.25011 

New test can ID patients at risk of severe COVID-19, study finds

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA HEALTH SYSTEM

 

IMAGE: UVA HEALTH'S ALEXANDRA KADL, MD, EXAMINED THE ABILITY OF A TEST TO PREDICT OUTCOMES FOR PATIENTS WITH COVID-19. view more 

CREDIT: DAN ADDISON | UVA COMMUNICATIONS

A genomic test being developed by a Charlottesville, Va., company can predict a patient’s risk of developing severe COVID-19, new research from UVA Health suggests. That information could help doctors identify patients at high risk for poor outcomes and quickly begin tailored treatment. 

The approach proved more than 90% accurate at predicting outcomes among more than two dozen patients in the intensive care unit at UVA and 100 patients from publicly available data generated at Duke and Harvard. The test, called CovGENE, analyzes genes expressed in a person’s blood to determine whether they may experience a severe disease course with increased risk of death.

“We have come far in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 in the past two years. Regardless, we still struggle to identify patients at highest risk for severe disease. Our study uses a gene-analysis approach to identify an immune cell signature, distinct from other respiratory illnesses, that correlates with worse outcomes,” said researcher Alexandra Kadl, MD, of UVA Health’s Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. “This knowledge has the potential to help evaluate patients’ immune profile with commonly, readily available assays to identify patients at risk for bad outcomes who would benefit from closer monitoring and advanced therapies to aid their recovery.” 

Predicting COVID-19 Severity

Based on the promising results of the UVA research, CovGENE’s developer, AMPEL Biosolutions, is seeking to partner with a diagnostic testing company or pharmaceutical company to bring the approach to market as a simple PCR-based blood test.

“This unique collaboration with our colleagues from the University of Virginia has provided an easy and novel means to assess an individual patient's response to the SARS-CoV-2 virus and predict the clinical outcome,” said Peter Lipsky, MD, AMPEL’s CEO, chief medical officer and co-founder. “Now that this unique approach has been validated, we look forward to its rapid development as a precision-medicine tool that can improve the outcome of patients with COVID-19 and reduce the number of hospitalizations, especially the most vulnerable.”

AMPEL Biosolutions aims to use genomic data to improve healthcare for patients. The company develops gene expression tests for blood or tissue samples to assist doctors in clinical decision-making. 

Company co-founder Amrie Grammer, PhD, is an alumna of UVA, having received both her bachelor’s and master’s degree there.

Findings Published

The researchers have published their findings in the journal Frontiers in Immunology. The team consisted of Andrea R. Daamen, Prathyusha Bachali, Catherine A. Bonham, Lindsay Somerville, Jeffrey M. Sturek, Amrie Grammer, Alexandra Kadl and Peter Lipsky. Daamen, Bachali, Grammer and Lipsky are employed by AMPEL BioSolutions.

The work was supported by the National Institutes of Health’s National Heart Lung Blood Institute, grant K23 HL143135; the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, grant 1R21AI160334; the COVID-19 Rapid Response Initiative by UVA’s Global Infectious Disease Institute; and The RILITE Foundation.

To keep up with the latest medical research news from UVA, subscribe to the Making of Medicine blog at http://makingofmedicine.virginia.edu.

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DOI

10.3389/fimmu.2022.989556 

COI STATEMENT

Daamen, Bachali, Grammer and Lipsky are employed by AMPEL BioSolutions.

Excess weight, not high blood sugar, associated with increased risk of COVID-19 infection and long COVID

Analyses of over 30,000 UK adults from nine prospective cohort studies finds a high pre-pandemic BMI was associated with a higher risk of COVID-19 infection and long COVID

Reports and Proceedings

DIABETOLOGIA

High body mass index (BMI), rather than high blood sugar levels, are associated with excess risks of COVID-19 infection and long COVID, according to a meta-analysis of over 30,000 UK adults from nine large prospective cohort studies.

The findings by Dr Anika Knuppel from the MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing, University College London, UK, and colleagues are being presented at this year’s European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) Annual Meeting in Stockholm, Sweden (19-23 Sept).

“Early in the pandemic research identified diabetes and obesity as risk factors for becoming severely ill with COVID-19. And we know that many people living with type 2 diabetes are also carrying excess weight. Our early findings support the idea that obesity-related mechanisms may be responsible for the excess risks of COVID-19 associated with diabetes, rather than high blood sugar per se,” says Dr Knuppel.

Previous research showed that people with diabetes and obesity are more likely to become severely ill and die if they catch COVID-19, but are no more likely to contract it. However, the underlying mechanisms, and their role in prolonged post-COVID-19 symptoms (long COVID), remains unclear.

To find out more, researchers looked for associations between a range of clinical characteristics measured before the pandemic—HbA1c (average blood sugar level), self-reported or medication-based diabetes, body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR)—and self-reported COVID-19 infection and long COVID in nine ongoing UK cohort studies [1].

The analyses included the most recent measurements (taken between 2002 and 2019) of HbA1c, weight, height, waist and hip circumference from each study as well as information from questionnaires on health and lifestyle.

All eligible participants (maximum 31,252, aged 19-75 years old, 57% female) had data on previous measurements and completed at least one questionnaire during the COVID-19 pandemic (May 2020 to September 2021) covering questions on COVID-19 and, where possible, questions on the length of ongoing COVID-19-related symptoms.

Participants reported having COVID-19 based on a positive test or strong suspicion. Long COVID was defined as symptoms that went on or affected functioning for longer than four weeks post-infection and was compared to those reporting symptoms for less than four weeks.

Where possible, associations were adjusted for sex, smoking, ethnicity, income, and education at the time of measurement.

Between May 2020 and September 2021, 5,806 participants reported ever having COVID-19, and 584 reported having long COVID (around 7% of COVID-19 cases with information on symptoms length).

Analysis of data from 31,252 participants in nine studies found higher BMI was associated with greater odds of COVID-19 infection—with the risk 7% higher for each 5kg/m2 increase in BMI. People with overweight (BMI 25-29.9kg/m2) and obesity (30 kg/m2 or greater) had 10% and 16% greater odds of COVID-19 infection, respectively, than healthy weight individuals (less than 25 kg/m2; see figure in notes to editors).

Similar results were observed for long COVID (4,243 participants, six studies)—with the risk 20% higher for each 5kg/m2 increase in BMI. People with overweight and obesity had 20% and 36% greater odds of long COVID, respectively. However, for both COVID infection and long COVID associations with categories of BMI were not all statistically significant (so we cannot be sure they are not due to chance).

Analysis investigating the association with WHR were inconclusive.

Notably, studies focusing on average blood sugar level (HbA1c) and diabetes (15,795 participants and 1,917 for long COVID) revealed no association with COVID-19 or long-COVID (see figure in notes to editors).

The researchers stress the need for further research to explore the mechanisms underpinning these associations and to reduce the excess risk associated with high BMI. “Our early findings suggest a link of adiposity with COVID-19 infection and long COVID-19 even after taking into account socio-demographic factors and smoking. We need to further explore what makes people with overweight and obesity at risk of worse outcomes and how this relates to severe cases”, says Knuppel.

The authors acknowledge that the study was observational and cannot prove that higher BMI increases the risk of COVID-19 infection, and they cannot rule out the possibility that other unmeasured factors (e.g., underlying conditions) or missing data may have affected the results. They also point out that COVID-19 was based on suspicion rather than a positive test, and clinical measurements taken before the pandemic could be outdated for some of the included studies. Finally, they note that study participants were healthier than the general population which may limit the conclusions that may be drawn.

For interviews with the report authors, please contact Dr Anika Knuppel, MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing, University College London, UK E) anika.knuppel@ucl.ac.uk T) +44(0)2076705719 or +44(0)7474873564

Alternative contact in the EASD Press Room: Tony Kirby T) + 44(0)7834 385827 E) tony@tonykirby.com

Notes to editors:

[1] The preliminary analyses included data from up to 9 UK prospective cohort studies:

• The 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70)
• Born in Bradford (BiB)*
• The English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA)*
• Generation Scotland (GS)
• The Millennium Cohort Study (MCS)
• The National Child and Development Study (NCDS)
• The MRC National Survey of Health and Development (NSHD)*
• Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC G1)
• Understanding Society (USoc), the UK Household Longitudinal Study.

*Not included in analyses of long COVID.

The study was funded by Characterisation, determinants, mechanisms and consequences of the long-term effects of COVID-19: providing the evidence base for health care services (CONVALESCENCE) funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research.

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

For Figure see full abstract

This press release is based on abstract 363 at annual meeting of The European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD). All accepted abstracts have been extensively peer reviewed by the congress selection committee. There is no full paper at this stage, but the authors are happy to answer your questions. No poster is available with this presentation.

 

 

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COI STATEMENT

The authors declare no conflicts of interest

Disease spillover risk poorly communicated, oversimplified during COVID-19 pandemic

Peer-Reviewed Publication

AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES

COVID-19 has been the first pandemic that has taken place alongside the interconnectivity of the Internet. Consequently, the spread of ideas and information about the disease has been unprecedented—but not always accurate.. One of the widely circulated headlines was that of the relationship between land change and the spillover of diseases from wildlife to humans. Writing in BioScience, Andre D. Mader of the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies and colleagues survey primary and secondary literature, as well as webpage content on the subject of land change and zoonotic disease risk. Based on the patterns picked up from this literature and media coverage, Mader and colleagues describe what amounts to a case study in improper science communication and its possible consequences.

According to the authors, media messaging consistently described direct causality between zoonotic disease spread and land use change, despite the fact that only 53% of the surveyed peer-reviewed literature made this association. The authors delve into theoretical scenarios that would demonstrate the difficulty of tracing the real risk of zoonotic spillover, emphasizing that the “complexity of pathogen responses to land change cannot be reduced to one-size-fits-all proclamations.”

The authors found that as the literature moves from primary research to review articles and commentaries, and finally to webpages, the “overstating of the evidence” increases, with 78% of secondary papers implying the land use–zoonotic spillover association and all but one of the sampled webpages making this association. The authors also noted that secondary sources and webpages often failed to mention the uncertainty associated with their conclusions.

The potential consequences of simplistic messaging and a lack of proper communication regarding zoonotic spillover can erode credibility, neglect local community’s specific needs when it comes to policy making, and detract attention from other factors that can lead to zoonotic spillover, say Mader and colleagues. The authors recommend more accurate, nuanced, and explanatory dissemination of the studies on zoonotic spillover risk, arguing that such an approach would also benefit science more broadly. As the authors conclude, “if the goal of science communication is to improve understanding, it must strike a balance: sufficient simplicity to be grasped by as broad an audience as possible but sufficient nuance to capture the complexity of an issue and contribute meaningfully to the discussion around it, especially when it goes viral.”

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JOURNAL

BioScience

DOI

10.1093/biosci/biac075 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Literature review

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Messaging Should Reflect the Nuanced Relationship between Land Change and Zoonotic Disease Risk

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

16-Sep-2022