New research computes first step toward predicting lifespan of electric space propulsion systems

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS GRAINGER COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

 

IMAGE: ILLUSTRATION OF THE HALL THRUSTER PLUMES IMPACTING THE CARBON SURFACES AT THE ATOMISTIC LEVEL. view more 

CREDIT: THE GRAINGER COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS URBANA-CHAMPAIGN

Electric space propulsion systems use energized atoms to generate thrust. The high-speed beams of ions bump against the graphite surfaces of the thruster, eroding them a little more with each hit, and are the systems' primary lifetime-limiting factor. When ion thrusters are ground tested in an enclosed chamber, the ricocheting particles of carbon from the graphite chamber walls can also redeposit back onto the thruster surfaces. This changes the measured performance characteristics of the thruster.

Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign used data from low-pressure chamber experiments and large-scale computations to develop a model to better understand the effects of ion erosion on carbon surfaces —the first step in predicting its failure.

“We need an accurate assessment of the ion erosion rate on graphite to predict thruster life, but testing facilities have reported varying sputtering rates, leading to large uncertainties in predictions,” said Huy Tran, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at UIUC.

Tran said it is difficult to replicate the environment of space in a laboratory chamber because it is difficult to construct a sufficiently large chamber to avoid ion-surface interactions at the chamber walls. And although graphite is typically used for the accelerator grid and pole covers in the thruster, there isn’t agreement on which type of graphite is most resistant to erosion, known as sputtering.

“The fundamental problem with testing an ion thruster in a chamber is that the thruster is continuously spitting out xenon ions that also impact with the chamber walls made out of graphite panels, but there are no chamber walls in space,” Tran said. “When these xenon ions hit the graphite panels, they also sputter out carbon atoms that redeposit on the accelerator grids. So instead of the grid becoming thinner and thinner because of thruster erosion, some people have seen in experiments that the grids get thicker with time because the carbon is coming back from the chamber walls.”

The simulation resolved the limitations and uncertainties in the experimental data and the researchers gained insight into a critical phenomenon.

“Whether it is pyrolytic graphite on the grided ion optics, isotropic graphite on the pole covers, or poco graphite or anisotropic graphite on the chamber walls, our molecular dynamics simulations show that the sputtering rates and mechanisms are identical across all these different referenced structures,” said Huck Beng Chew, Tran’s adviser.

He said the sputtering process creates a unique carbon structure during the bombardment process. Watch a video of the simulation showing a close-up view of the xenon ion traveling at hypersonic velocity, impacting the carbon structure.

“When the ions come and damage the surface, they transform the surface into an amorphous-like structure regardless of the initial carbon structure,” Chew said. “You end up with a sputtered surface with the same unique structural characteristics. This is one of the main findings that we have observed from our simulations.”

Chew said they even tried it with diamond. Regardless of the much lower initial porosity and the more rigid bond configuration, they got the same sputtered structure.

“The model we developed bridges the molecular dynamics simulation results to the experimental data,” Chew said. “The next thing we want to look at is the evolving surface morphology over time as you put more and more xenon ions into the system. This is relevant to ion thrusters for deep space exploration.”

The research is part of a NASA center known as the Joint Advanced Propulsion Institute which includes researchers at nine universities, including UIUC aerospace engineering faculties Chew, Debbie Levin, and Joshua Rovey who leads the Illinois team.

The simulations were performed using NCSA’s Delta, a supercomputing facility at Illinois.

The paper, “Surface morphology and carbon structure effects on sputtering: Bridging scales between molecular dynamics simulations and experiments,” is written by Huy Tran and Huck Beng Chew. It is published in the journal Carbon.

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JOURNAL

Carbon

DOI

10.1016/j.carbon.2023.01.015 

ARTICLE TITLE

Surface morphology and carbon structure effects on sputtering: Bridging scales between molecular dynamics simulations and experiments

Dogs’ average age at cancer diagnosis is associated with size, sex, breed

Giant breeds, males and purebred dogs tend to receive a cancer diagnosis at a relatively younger age, informing potential screening guidelines

Peer-Reviewed Publication

PLOS

 

IMAGE: THE STUDY, INVOLVING OVER 3,000 CANCER-DIAGNOSED DOGS, FOUND THAT ALL DOGS SHOULD BEGIN CANCER SCREENING AT AGE 7, BUT CERTAIN BREEDS MAY BENEFIT FROM SCREENING STARTING AS EARLY AS AGE 4. view more 

CREDIT: PETDX, CC-BY 4.0 (HTTPS://CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/LICENSES/BY/4.0/)

A new analysis has determined median ages of cancer diagnosis for dogs with different characteristics, providing support for the establishment of cancer screening guidelines that vary according to breed or weight. Jill Rafalko of PetDx in La Jolla, California, and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on February 1, 2023.

More adult dogs die from cancer than from any other cause. Just as in humans, detecting canine cancer earlier can enable more effective treatment. New, noninvasive blood tests for dogs can detect tumor DNA long before other signs of cancer arise. However, formal guidelines for when dogs should be screened using these tests are lacking.

To aid establishment of such guidelines, Rafalko and colleagues sought to determine the median age at cancer diagnosis of dogs with different characteristics. Their analysis included 3,452 dogs with cancer in the U.S.

They found that the median age at cancer diagnosis for dogs weighing 75 kilograms or more was 5 years, compared to 11 years for dogs weighing 2.5 to 5 kilograms. The mean diagnosis age for purebred dogs was 8.2 years, compared to 9.2 years for dogs whose breed was described as mixed or “other.”

Among breeds with enough representation in the study, the researchers were able to determine that Mastiffs, Saint Bernards, Great Danes, and Bulldogs had the youngest median diagnosis age, at approximately 6 years. Irish Wolfhounds, Vizslas, and Bernese Mountain Dogs had median diagnosis ages of 6.1 to 7 years. At 11.5 years, the Bichon Frise had the oldest median diagnosis age.

Female dogs were typically diagnosed at older ages than males, and dogs that were neutered were diagnosed later than intact dogs.

The researchers also developed a statistical model to predict median diagnosis age based on weight, which could be applied to breeds with less representation in the study and to mixed-breed dogs.

Considering these findings in combination with evidence from prior studies, the researchers propose that canine cancer detection could be improved through blood test-based screening beginning 2 years before a dog reaches the median diagnosis age for their breed or weight.

The authors add: “Dogs now have a new option for cancer screening called ‘liquid biopsy’ which, similar to the human version of this test, leverages next-generation sequencing technology to detect multiple types of cancer using a simple blood draw. However, the age to start screening for cancer in dogs can vary depending on their breed or weight. Our study, involving over 3,000 cancer-diagnosed dogs, found that all dogs should begin cancer screening at age 7, but certain breeds may benefit from screening starting as early as age 4.”

#####

In your coverage please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS ONE: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0280795

Citation: Rafalko JM, Kruglyak KM, McCleary-Wheeler AL, Goyal V, Phelps-Dunn A, Wong LK, et al. (2023) Age at cancer diagnosis by breed, weight, sex, and cancer type in a cohort of more than 3,000 dogs: Determining the optimal age to initiate cancer screening in canine patients. PLoS ONE 18(2): e0280795. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0280795

Author Countries: USA

Funding: This study received funding from PetDx. The funder had the following involvement with the study: study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, and preparation of the manuscript.

The risk of cancer and cancer-associated mortality in dogs is known to vary greatly depending on breed. 

In this article, researchers studied the median age at which a number of dog breeds are diagnosed with cancer. Of the 43 breeds represented, Mastiffs had the youngest median age at cancer diagnosis (5 years), while Bichon Frises had the oldest median age (11.5 years). The median age of cancer diagnosis was also seen to be lower for purebred dogs than for mixed breed dogs. The median age found for each breed may assist in establishing the age at which cancer screening should be initiated for individual dogs, to increase likelihood of early detection and treatment. Note: For display purposes, outliers are not presented for bars comparing purebred and mixed breed dogs.

CREDIT

Anne-Lise Paris (www.in-graphidi.com), PLOS, CC-BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

JOURNAL

PLoS ONE

DOI

10.1371/journal.pone.0280795 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Age at cancer diagnosis by breed, weight, sex, and cancer type in a cohort of more than 3,000 dogs: Determining the optimal age to initiate cancer screening in canine patients

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

1-Feb-2023

COI STATEMENT

All authors are employed by and hold vested or unvested equity in PetDx. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

LJI scientists uncover the structure and function of Inmazeb, the first FDA-approved drug for Ebola virus infection

New findings emphasize the benefits of antibody cocktails over monotherapy approaches

Peer-Reviewed Publication

LA JOLLA INSTITUTE FOR IMMUNOLOGY

 

IMAGE: THE NEW STUDY SHOWS HOW THREE ANTIBODIES (LIGHT BLUE, DARK BLUE, AND YELLOW) USED IN INMAZEB (REGN-EB3) BIND TO DIFFERENT REGIONS OF THE EBOLA VIRUS GLYCOPROTEIN (GREY) TO COMBAT INFECTION. IMAGE CREDIT: ETHAN MACKENZIE (PHOSPHO BIOMEDICAL ANIMATION) view more 

CREDIT: ETHAN MACKENZIE (PHOSPHO BIOMEDICAL ANIMATION)

LA JOLLA, CA—Scientists at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) have uncovered the structure and function of the first FDA-approved treatment for Zaire ebolavirus (Ebola virus). 

Inmazeb (REGN-EB3), developed by Regeneron, is a three-antibody cocktail designed to target the Ebola virus glycoprotein. The drug was first approved for clinical use in October 2020, but its exact mechanism of action has remained unclear.

In the cover story of the latest issue of Cell Host & Microbe, LJI researchers present a high-resolution, 3D structure of the three antibodies as they bind to the Ebola virus glycoprotein (the viral protein that launches Ebola virus infection). The model reveals new information about both the drug and the virus, and how their interaction fights infection and protects against future viral mutations. 

“Before this, we had a general idea of what the drug was doing, but we didn’t know exactly how,” says LJI President and CEO Erica Ollmann Saphire, Ph.D., who served as senior author of the study. “We now know which specific amino acids the antibodies are latching onto and how their binding affects the viral glycoprotein.”

The new research also shows the potential for Inmazeb in treating additional species of Ebolavirus. 

How the antibody cocktail works

At 3.1 angstroms, the 3D structure is the highest-resolution image of the Ebola virus surface protein ever assembled using asymmetric reconstruction. The researchers achieved this detailed view through an imaging technique called cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM).

“It’s like getting mugshots of a protein,” said first author Vamseedhar Rayaprolu, Ph.D., who spearheaded the project as a postdoctoral associate at LJI and now serves at The Pacific Northwest Center for Cryo-EM. “We take photos of the complex that is frozen in all different angles and then stitch them together to get a 3D model.”

Thanks to these images, the LJI team immediately made a discovery not just about the drug, but also about Ebola virus itself. While the overall structure of the Ebola glycoprotein has been known for some time, one region had yet to be modeled effectively—the β17-β18 loop on the protein’s glycan cap.

“This piece is normally too floppy to be imaged,” said Rayaprolu, “but when the antibodies were bound to the virus, they locked the loop into place and we were able to finally capture its location and structure.”

The team then confirmed that the drug’s three antibodies bind the glycoprotein at distinct, non-overlapping locations, maximizing their effectiveness by minimizing their redundancy. 

Atoltivimab (REGN3470) is the specific antibody that binds the β17-β18 loop. When bound, this antibody can serve as a signal to attract the immune system, flagging infected cells to be killed via effector functions. 

A second antibody, called odesivimab (REGN3471), binds to amino acids on the glycoprotein’s receptor-binding site, preventing the virus from attaching itself to human cells. 

The third antibody, called maftivimab (REGN3479), binds and warps the glycoprotein’s internal fusion loop, which the virus requires to drive itself into a cell. The researchers also found evidence that maftivimab may be valuable in future therapies against other types of Ebolaviruses.

Fighting more than one virus

"Like with SARS-CoV-2, Ebola virus has changed over time and become different than the original virus," says study collaborator Robert Davey, Ph.D., Professor in the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL), of the Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine. As Davey points out, Ebola viruses aren't the only dangerous members of the larger Filovirus family. This family includes closely related Ebolavirus species, such as Sudan ebolavirus (a 2022 outbreak of Sudan ebolavirus killed at least 55 people in Uganda) and the more distantly related Marburg virus.

Through a series of escape studies led by study collaborators in Davey's lab and at Regeneron, the team found that Inmazeb could potentially protect against several viruses in the Ebolavirus genus of Filoviruses, including Sudan ebolavirus. 

The key appears to be the maftivimab antibody. Maftivimab's target, the viral glycoprotein's internal fusion loop, is conserved across these Ebolaviruses. This means the loop structure has not changed significantly, even as other parts of the virus have mutated over time.

"We found that, in general, the antibodies in Inmazeb could be effective against the more closely related viruses," says Davey. "But for the more distantly related species, such as Marburg, more work needs to be done to devise a new antibody cocktail."

Could Inmazeb also combat new Ebola virus variants? The researchers found that—in the presence of all three antibodies—Ebola virus has to undergo ten rounds of replication and multiple mutations to partially escape the effects of the drug. In contrast, using any single antibody alone leads to escape mutations within only one or two passages. 

This finding suggests that Inmazeb can provide lasting immunity against variants. The new findings may also guide the development of novel antibody drugs that target the glycoprotein more broadly or effectively. 

“We now understand how subtle shifts in the landing site of different antibodies impact function,” says Rayaprolu. “This tells us the differences between more or less effective immune responses.”

“Knowing exactly where a drug contacts the virus helps us predict whether it is likely to still work on a new viral variant,” adds Saphire. “These methods and the insights from our research collaborators will be integral to the development of next-generation vaccines."

Additional authors of the study, “Structure of the Inmazeb cocktail and resistance to Ebola virus escape,” include Benjamin O. Fulton, Ashique Rafique, Emilia Arturo, Dewight Williams, Chitra Hariharan, Heather Callaway, Amar Parvate, Sharon L. Schendel, Diptiben Parekh, Sean Hui, Kelly Shaffer, Kristen E. Pascal, Elzbieta Wloga, Stephanie Giordano, Nicole Negron, Min Ni, Richard Copin, Gurinder S. Atwal, Matthew Franklin, Ruth Mabel Boytz, Callie Donahue, Alina Baum, and Christos A. Kyratsous, researchers at Regeneron, Boston University and La Jolla Institute for Immunology.

The study was supported by the NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (grant U19 AI142790), the Consortium for Immunotherapeutics against Emerging Viral Threats, and the U.S. Department of Health and Health Services Contract No. HHSO100201700016C (Regeneron). Additional funding was provided by the Department of Health and Human Services, the NIH National Cancer Institute (grant ACB-12002), and the NIH National Institute of General Medical Sciences (grants AGM-12006 and P30GM138396). 

DOI: 10.1016/j.chom.2023.01.002

###

About La Jolla Institute

The La Jolla Institute for Immunology is dedicated to understanding the intricacies and power of the immune system so that we may apply that knowledge to promote human health and prevent a wide range of diseases. Since its founding in 1988 as an independent, nonprofit research organization, the Institute has made numerous advances leading toward its goal: life without disease. Visit lji.org for more information.

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JOURNAL

Cell Host & Microbe

DOI

10.1016/j.chom.2023.01.002 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Cells

ARTICLE TITLE

Structure of the Inmazeb cocktail and resistance to Ebola virus escape

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

27-Jan-2023

COI STATEMENT

The Regeneron employees have stock and/or options in the company. C.A.K. is an officer of the company. The antibodies are patented: WO/2016/123019.

Molecular machines could treat fungal infections

Rice scientists show that light-activated nanoscale drills can kill pathogenic fungi

Peer-Reviewed Publication

RICE UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: JAMES TOUR IS THE T. T. AND W. F. CHAO PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY AND A PROFESSOR OF MATERIALS SCIENCE AND NANOENGINEERING. (PHOTO BY JEFF FITLOW/RICE UNIVERSITY) view more 

CREDIT: PHOTO BY JEFF FITLOW/RICE UNIVERSITY

HOUSTON – (Feb.1, 2023) – That stubborn athlete’s foot infection an estimated 70% of people get at some point in their life could become much easier to get rid of thanks to nanoscale drills activated by visible light.

Proven effective against antibiotic-resistant infectious bacteria and cancer cells, the molecular machines developed by Rice University chemist James Tour and collaborators are just as good at combating infectious fungi, according to a new study published in Advanced Science.

Based on the work of Nobel laureate Bernard Feringa, the Tour group’s molecular machines are nanoscale compounds whose paddlelike chain of atoms moves in a single direction when exposed to visible light. This causes a drilling motion that allows the machines to bore into the surface of cells, killing them.

“Dr. Tour posed the question of whether they can also kill fungi, which had never been explored before,” said lead co-author Ana Santos, a Rice alumna who is currently a Marie Curie Global Postdoctoral Fellow at Fundación Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Islas Baleares in Spain. “Our study is the first to show that, indeed, these molecules can also be effective against fungi."

Fungal infections pose a particular threat to patients with a weakened immune system, such as cancer patients and transplant recipients. The cost of treating bacterial infections in the U.S. alone is estimated at more than $7 billion per year.

COVID-19 has made matters worse. Immunosuppressants were widely used early in the pandemic to reduce the risk of long-term organ damage caused by an overactive immune system in response to the virus, a tactic that allowed fungal infections to proliferate. 

“In the aftermath of that first wave of the pandemic, doctors started seeing an increase in cases of mucormycosis, or ‘black fungus,’ a normally rare fungal infection which causes a pneumonia-like illness, as a result of the overuse of immunosuppressant drugs,” Santos said. “We want to develop a way to combat fungal infections that does not tax a weakened immune system further, and we hope these molecular machines might be a way to do so.”

Santos said overuse of antifungals in agriculture is also contributing to resistance in humans.

“This is an emergent phenomenon that we are just starting to understand,” she said. “Antifungals are used in agriculture to combat damage to crops caused by fungal infestation. However, most of the antifungal drugs that are used in agriculture are also used in humans. Therefore, overuse of antifungals can lead to resistance not just in the fungi that cause plant illnesses but also in other fungi, including those that can be harmful to humans.”

In contrast to most antifungals, development of resistance to the visible-light activated nanoscale drills was not detected. Spinning at 2-3 million times per second, their rotors cause fungal cells to disintegrate by disrupting their metabolism.

“There are only a few classes of antifungals in clinical use,” Santos said. “These conventional antifungals typically employ one of a few different mechanisms of action, including inhibiting the synthesis of the fungal cell wall, targeting the fungal cell membrane or inhibiting the production of ergosterol, which is an essential component for normal fungal cell membrane structure.

“Our molecules differ from conventional antifungals in that they specifically target what we call the powerhouses of the cell, that is, the mitochondria,” she continued. Mitochondria are responsible for producing adenosine triphosphate, or ATP, which drives cellular metabolism.

"By targeting the mitochondria, our molecules disrupt the cell's metabolism, resulting in an overall energy imbalance that leads to an uncontrolled flow of water and ions such as calcium into the cell, eventually causing the cell to explode," Santos explained.

Tour is the T. T. and W. F. Chao Professor of Chemistry and a professor of materials science and nanoengineering. Rice graduate student Jacob L. Beckham is a lead co-author on the study along with Santos.

The European Union’s Horizon 2020 program (843116), the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program, the Discovery Institute, the Robert A. Welch Foundation (C-2017-20190330) and the DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory (W911NF-19-2-0269, W911NF-18-2-0234) supported the research.

-30-

Schematic representation of the mechanisms by which light-activated molecular machines kill fungi. Molecular machines bind to fungal mitochondria, decreasing adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production and impairing the function of energy-dependent transporters that control the movement of ions, such as calcium. This leads to the influx of water, which causes the organelles to swell and eventually the cells to burst.

CREDIT

Image courtesy of Tour Group/Rice University

Ultrastructural changes induced by light-activated molecular machines in the fungus Candida albicans, detected by transmission electron microscopy, compared to a solvent control (1% dimethyl sulfoxide).

CREDIT

Image courtesy of Matthew Meyer, Electron Microscopy Facilities/Rice University

Peer-reviewed paper:

“Visible-light-activated molecular machines kill fungi by necrosis following mitochondrial dysfunction and calcium overload” | Advanced Science | DOI: 10.1002/advs.202205781

https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202205781

Authors: Ana Santos, Jacob Beckham, Dongdong Liu, Gang Li, Alexis van Venrooy, Antonio Oliver, George Tegos and James Tour

Image downloads:

https://news-network.rice.edu/news/files/2023/01/Tour_fitlow_LG.jpg
CAPTION: James Tour is the T. T. and W. F. Chao Professor of Chemistry and a professor of materials science and nanoengineering. (Photo by Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)

https://news-network.rice.edu/news/files/2023/01/Schematic-MOA-Antifungal_LG.jpg
CAPTION: Schematic representation of the mechanisms by which light-activated molecular machines kill fungi. Molecular machines bind to fungal mitochondria, decreasing adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production and impairing the function of energy-dependent transporters that control the movement of ions, such as calcium. This leads to the influx of water, which causes the organelles to swell and eventually the cells to burst. (Image courtesy of Tour Group/Rice University)

https://news-network.rice.edu/news/files/2023/01/Electron-microscopy-photo_LG.jpg
CAPTION: Ultrastructural changes induced by light-activated molecular machines in the fungus Candida albicans, detected by transmission electron microscopy, compared to a solvent control (1% dimethyl sulfoxide). (Image courtesy of Matthew Meyer, Electron Microscopy Facilities/Rice University)

Related stories:

New weapon targets antibiotic resistance:
https://news.rice.edu/news/2022/new-weapon-targets-antibiotic-resistance

Bacteria-killing drills get an upgrade:
https://news.rice.edu/news/2022/bacteria-killing-drills-get-upgrade

Chemists build a better cancer-killing drill:
https://news2.rice.edu/2019/05/28/chemists-build-a-better-cancer-killing-drill-2/

Deadly ‘superbugs’ destroyed by molecular drills:
https://news2.rice.edu/2019/12/12/deadly-superbugs-destroyed-by-molecular-drills/

Motorized molecules drill through cells:
https://news2.rice.edu/2017/08/30/motorized-molecules-drill-through-cells-2/

Links:

Tour Group: https://www.jmtour.com/
Rice Department of Chemistry: https://chemistry.rice.edu/
Wiess School of Natural Sciences: https://naturalsciences.rice.edu/

Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation’s top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 4,240 undergraduates and 3,972 graduate students, Rice’s undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is just under 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for lots of race/class interaction and No. 1 for quality of life by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance.

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JOURNAL

Advanced Science

DOI

10.1002/advs.202205781 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Cells

ARTICLE TITLE

Visible-light-activated molecular machines kill fungi by necrosis following mitochondrial dysfunction and calcium overload

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

30-Jan-2023

COI STATEMENT

Rice University owns intellectual property on the use of electromagnetic (light) activation of MMs for the killing of cells. This intellectual property has been licensed to a company in which J.M.T. is a stockholder, although he is not an officer or director of that company. Conflicts of interest are mitigated through regular disclosure to the Rice University Office of Sponsored Projects and Research Compliance. The remaining authors declare no conflict of interest.

Babies remember faces despite face masks, UC Davis study suggests

Babies can form memories of masked faces

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - DAVIS

Babies learn from looking at human faces, leading many parents and childhood experts to worry about possible developmental harm from widespread face-masking during the pandemic.

A new study by researchers at the University of California, Davis, allays those concerns, finding that 6- to 9-month-old babies can form memories of masked faces and recognize those faces when unmasked.

Michaela DeBolt, a doctoral candidate in cognitive psychology, and Lisa Oakes, a professor in the Department of Psychology and at the Center for Mind and Brain, used eye tracking to study how masks influence infants’ facial recognition. 

In the study, 58 babies, each seated on a parent’s lap or in a highchair, were shown pairs of masked and unmasked women’s faces on a computer screen, while cameras recorded where they looked. Because babies linger longer over unfamiliar images, the researchers could derive which faces they recognized, DeBolt said.

The findings appear in a paper published in the January/February special issue of the journal Infancy, which focused on the impact of COVID-19 on infant development.

The testing took place at Oakes’ Infant Cognition Lab at the Center for Mind and Brain in Davis, California, from late December 2021 to late March 2022, during a statewide mask mandate and the arrival of the coronavirus omicron variant.

“When babies learned a masked face, and then they saw that face again unmasked, they recognized it,” DeBolt said.

However, when the order was reversed, babies did not show strong recognition of masked faces that they first saw unmasked. DeBolt said that was similar to her own experience of not instantly recognizing a friend who was wearing a face mask.

Learning faces is central to how babies learn to talk, perceive emotions, develop relationships with their caregivers and explore their environment, Oakes said. “So people were very worried about face masks and the effect they would have on how infants are learning about human faces.”

Oakes, an expert on cognitive development in infancy, said the study highlighted a remarkable ability of babies to adapt. “I think that it should be very reassuring to parents in general,” she said. “Babies all over the world develop and thrive.

“There are so many variations in babies’ everyday lived experience,” she added. “As long as they are well cared for and fed and they get love and attention, they thrive. We can get into a mode where we think the way we do things is the best way to do things and that anything different is going to be a problem. And that’s clearly not the case.”

JOURNAL

Infancy

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

The impact of face masks on infants' learning of faces: An eye tracking study

Urinary tract infections impair the sex life, sleep and exercise of over half of women who experience them, and are associated with reduced quality of life, in U.S. survey

Peer-Reviewed Publication

PLOS

 

IMAGE: THE GRAPH SHOWS THE ACTIVITIES REPORTED BY SURVEY PARTICIPANTS AS THOSE MOST AFFECTED BY THEIR RECENT UNCOMPLICATED URINARY TRACT INFECTION. view more 

CREDIT: GSK, CC-BY 4.0 (HTTPS://CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/LICENSES/BY/4.0/)

Article URL:  https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0277728

Article Title: Activity impairment, health-related quality of life, productivity, and self-reported resource use and associated costs of uncomplicated urinary tract infection among women in the United States

Author Countries: USA

Funding: This study, including study design, data collection, analysis, and interpretation, and medical writing and submission support for the manuscript, was funded by GSK (study 212518). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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JOURNAL

PLoS ONE

DOI

10.1371/journal.pone.0277728 

ARTICLE TITLE

Activity impairment, health-related quality of life, productivity, and self-reported resource use and associated costs of uncomplicated urinary tract infection among women in the United States

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

1-Feb-2023

COI STATEMENT

Jeffrey Thompson is a former employee and Jonathon Wright a current employee of Cerner Enviza, which received funding from GSK to conduct this study. Alen Marijam, Fanny Mitrani-Gold, and Ashish Joshi are employees and shareholders of GSK. Some of the material in this manuscript has been presented previously at the Infectious Disease Week (IDWeek) 2021 Virtual Congress: Thompson et al, “A Survey Study of Healthcare Resource Use and, Direct and Indirect Costs, Among Females with an Uncomplicated Urinary Tract Infection in the United States”; and Thompson et al, “Activity Impairment and Health-Related Quality of Life Associated with an Uncomplicated Urinary Tract Infection Among US Females”. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Vitamin D supplementation is associated with a reduced risk of suicide attempts in a large cohort of U.S. veterans, especially in Black veterans and those with pre-existing low vitamin D

Peer-Reviewed Publication

PLOS

 

IMAGE: VITAMIN D SUPPLEMENTATION IS ASSOCIATED WITH A REDUCED RISK OF SUICIDE ATTEMPTS IN A LARGE COHORT OF U.S. VETERANS. view more 

CREDIT: MICHELE BLACKWELL, UNSPLASH, CC0 (HTTPS://CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/PUBLICDOMAIN/ZERO/1.0/)

Article URL:  https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0279166

Article Title: The association between vitamin D serum levels, supplementation, and suicide attempts and intentional self-harm

Author Countries: USA

Funding: This study was supported, in part, with resources from the Department of Veterans Affairs Center of Excellence for Suicide Prevention. Support for VA/CMS data was provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs, VA Health Services Research and Development Service, VA Information Resource Center (Project Numbers SDR 02-237 and 98-004), awarded to authors JG and JL. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the Department of Veterans Affairs or the United States government.

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JOURNAL

PLoS ONE

DOI

10.1371/journal.pone.0279166 

ARTICLE TITLE

The association between vitamin D serum levels, supplementation, and suicide attempts and intentional self-harm

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

1-Feb-2023