Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC scientist identifies a connection in the brain between stress and emotional eating

In a study published in Nature Communications, Assistant Professor Sora Shin describes the role of a molecule in the brain responsible for triggering overconsumption of comfort foods after a threatening event

Peer-Reviewed Publication

VIRGINIA TECH

 

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(FROM LEFT) SORA SHIN, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR AT THE FRALIN BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE AT VTC; HER FORMER RESEARCH ASSOCIATE IN-JEE YOU; AND GRADUATE STUDENT YEEUN BAE AUTHORED A PAPER PUBLISHED IN NATURE COMMUNICATIONS THAT IDENTIFIES A CONNECTION IN THE BRAIN BETWEEN THREATENING EVENTS AND THE STRONG DESIRE TO OVEREAT HIGH-FAT FOODS.

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CREDIT: PHOTO BY CLAYTON METZ FOR VIRGINIA TECH.

If you’ve had a near miss accident in your car or suffered the intimidation of a menacing person, you’ve probably felt it — a psychological reaction to a threat called a fight or flight response. Your heart rate climbs, anxiety washes over you, you might shake or sweat.

But hours after that stress passes, you may feel another response — a powerful desire for comfort food, that highly processed, high-fat stuff you know isn’t good for you. It can relieve stress and tension and provide a sense of control. Emotional eating following a stress-triggering interaction is familiar to many of us, and to scientists as well.

But how a threat signals your brain to want comfort food has been unknown.

Now, a Virginia Tech scientist has pinpointed a molecule found in a region of the brain called the hypothalamus that is connected to changes in the brain that lead to emotional overeating. Sora Shin, assistant professor at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, and her research team described the discovery in a paper published Oct. 28 in Nature Communications.

“We don’t always eat because we are hungry and we have certain physical needs,” said Shin, who is also an assistant professor in the Department of Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise in Virginia Tech’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. “Whenever we get stressed or feel some threat, then it can also trigger our eating motivation. We think this molecule is the culprit.”

Shin and her research team began their study by investigating a small molecule, Proenkephalin. This molecule is common in multiple parts of the brain, but little research had examined its role in the hypothalamus. Shin suspected it played a role in stress and eating because the hypothalamus is a center for regulating eating behavior.

The lab exposed mice to the odor of cat feces. The odor of a natural predator triggered a threat response in the mice, and 24 hours later, the mice exhibited a negative emotional state, overeating behavior, and neurons in their brains showed sensitivity to consumption of high-fat foods.

To confirm the role of the molecule in stress-induced eating, the researchers activated the same neurons artificially with light stimulating a genetically encoded molecule expressed in the neuronal cell’s membrane, without the predator scent, and saw a similar response. In addition, when they exposed the mice to the cat odor and quieted the reaction of the neurons expressing that molecule with the same technique, the mice showed no negative emotional state and didn’t overeat.

“So something about this molecule itself is very critical to inducing overconsumption after the threat,” Shin said.

The discovery points toward a possible target for therapy to alleviate emotionally triggered eating.

“We have much more to learn about this molecule,” Shin said, “but we found its location and it could be a good starting point.”

Shin’s first-authors on the study are In-Jee You, a former research associate at the institute, and Yeeun Bae, a human nutrition, foods, and exercise graduate student working in her lab.

Shin’s research is supported by funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute Seale Innovation Fund, and the integrated Translational Health Research Institute of Virginia. Shin is a former iTHRIV scholar.

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JOURNAL

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-023-42623-6 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Lateral hypothalamic proenkephalin neurons drive threat-induced overeating associated with a negative emotional state

University of Louisville awarded $11.5 million for research to prevent and treat eating disorders

Grant and Award Announcement

UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE

 

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CHERI LEVINSON, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE. PHOTO BY BEN MARCUM PHOTOGRAPHY.

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CREDIT: BEN MARCUM PHOTOGRAPHY

A University of Louisville researcher has been awarded $11.5 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to better understand and address some of the most devastating effects of eating disorders.

Eating disorders affect an estimated 9% of Americans — nearly 30 million people — and can impact a person’s eating behaviors and perceptions about food and their bodies. The UofL research, backed by three grants, will investigate how eating disorders may develop in childhood and adolescence, their contribution to suicidal behaviors and how innovative personalized treatment may offer hope.

“UofL has made a longstanding commitment to groundbreaking research and discovery that makes a positive impact on our world,” said President Kim Schatzel. “This is research that can save and improve the lives of millions of Americans and many, many more around the world impacted by eating disorders.”

The work is led by researcher Cheri Levinson, who specializes in the study and intervention of eating and anxiety disorders. The key, she said, is a personalized approach to diagnosis and treatment, recognizing that these disorders affect people of all different ages, ethnicities, gender identities and backgrounds, and individualizing treatment to each specific person.

“Despite the high prevalence of these conditions, there are few available treatment and prevention options,” said Levinson, an associate professor in the UofL College of Arts and Sciences and director of the Eating Anxiety Treatment (EAT) Lab. “This work not only will create options, but opens this whole possibility for treatments that are personalized based on the individual. Because eating disorders don’t just affect one kind of person and there are a multitude of different factors that can influence them.”

Through an NIH research project grant totaling nearly $4 million, Levinson’s team will study how eating disorders develop in childhood and beyond, with the hope their findings can help avert the large personal and societal costs associated with childhood onset and chronic disorders. Recent studies show more than one in five kids worldwide may show signs of disordered eating.

A second project grant, also nearly $4 million, will identify patterns of anorexia nervosa — an eating disorder characterized by a fear of gaining weight — that contribute to suicide risk, with data providing a model of personalized psychiatric medicine and new methods of prevention and treatment. Currently, patients with anorexia have a suicide risk 18 times higher than those without an eating disorder.

The third grant, a prestigious NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, also worth nearly $4 million across two phases, will further the creation and dissemination of a novel personalized treatment for eating disorders and integrate social determinants of health (food insecurity, racism) into treatment. The New Innovator Award, part of NIH’s High-Risk, High-Reward Research program, supports unusually innovative research from early-career investigators who are within 10 years of their final degree or clinical residency. Levinson is the first from UofL and the first studying eating disorders to receive this award.

“Our mission at the College of Arts and Sciences is to improve life in the Commonwealth, including by creating new knowledge through groundbreaking research and innovation,” said Dayna Touron, the college’s dean. “Dr. Levinson’s work will undoubtedly improve the lives of millions living with eating disorders, and we are very proud to count her among our faculty.”

These grants are the culmination of years of groundbreaking work by Levinson and her team, for which they earned a UofL Trailblazer Award in early 2023. The research has also received support through UofL’s Office of Research and Innovation, including mentoring through the Ascending Stars Fellows Program for promising mid-career faculty. 

Work to develop a companion personalized treatment application and virtual reality technology has also been supported by the office’s Innovation and Commercialization and UofL New Ventures teams. This includes patenting, entrepreneurial coaching and training and financial support through two innovation development programs: KYNETIC, focused on furthering biomedical technologies, and PRePARE, focused on technologies that address a health or societal problem resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“UofL has built a strong and vibrant ecosystem and supports for important research, like this, that can improve and save lives,” said Kevin Gardner, UofL’s executive vice president for research and innovation. “We’re so proud of the work Dr. Levinson and her team are doing and the positive impacts it will have across the U.S. and the globe.” 

 

Fish-like genetic program used to turn human retinal cells into neurons

Peer-Reviewed Publication

INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR STEM CELL RESEARCH

 

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“OVERALL, OUR STUDY PROVIDES A PROOF-OF-PRINCIPLE THAT HUMAN GLIA CAN BE REPROGRAMMED TO CELLS THAT ARE CAPABLE OF MAKING NEW NEURONS," SAID THOMAS REH, PHD, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, USA. "THIS OPENS UP AN ENTIRELY NEW WAY TO REPAIR THE RETINA IN PEOPLE THAT HAVE LOST NEURONS TO DISEASE OR TRAUMA."

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CREDIT: THOMAS REH, PHD

Loss of neurons in in the retina due to trauma or disease leads to vision impairment or blindness, a process which is irreversible in humans. Interestingly, some animals like fish have the built-in ability to regenerate retinal neurons by turning another retinal cell type called “Muller glia” into neurons. This conversion does not happen spontaneously in humans and other mammals, but new research by Thomas Reh, Juliette Wohlschlegel, and colleagues at the University of Washington, USA, published in the journal Stem Cell Reports, shows that human Muller glia can be coaxed into changing identity in the laboratory, which could serve as a potential source of new neurons to treat vision loss. 

"Overall, our study provides a proof-of-principle that human glia can be reprogrammed to cells that are capable of making new neurons, said Thomas Reh, PhD, University of Washington. "This opens up an entirely new way to repair the retina in people that have lost neurons to disease or trauma."

Muller glia are supportive cells in the retina which help photoreceptors and other retinal neurons to function properly. In some species like fish and birds, Muller glia turn into immature retinal cells upon injury and subsequently generate new retinal neurons. By contrast, Muller glia in the mammalian retina react to injury with scar formation and inflammation without making new neurons. This difference in behavior is based on different genetic programs being activated in fish versus mammalian Muller glia after injury. Artificial activation of a fish-like genetic program can turn mouse Muller glia into retinal neurons according to prior research. However, up until now, it has not been known if the same strategy can be used to convert human Muller glia into neurons. To answer this question, the researchers genetically modified human Muller glia in the lab to switch on neurons-specific genetic programs, as it naturally happens in fish. Indeed, within a week, the genetically modified cells adopted a neuron-like characteristics resembling immature retinal neurons. These findings suggest that human Muller glia can be coaxed into neurons and may serve as a resource to generate new neurons in patients’ retinas in the future. Of note, Muller glia in this study were derived from immature Muller glia and it remains to be seen if similar approaches can transform adult human Muller glia into neurons, and to what efficiency.

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JOURNAL

Stem Cell Reports

DOI

10.1016/j.stemcr.2023.10.021 

ARTICLE TITLE

ASCL1 induces neurogenesis in human Muller glia

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

30-Nov-2023

 

Study reveals distinct brain activity triggered by memories of trauma

Peer-Reviewed Publication

YALE UNIVERSITY

New Haven, Conn. — It is well known that people who have lived through traumatic events like sexual assault, domestic abuse, or violent combat can experience symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), including terrifying flashbacks, severe anxiety, and uncontrollable thoughts about the incident. But what exactly happens in the brains of PTSD patients as they recall these traumatic events? Are they remembered the same way as, say, the loss of a beloved pet — or, for that matter, a relaxing walk on the beach?

A new study co-led by Yale researchers finds that the brain activity triggered by recollections of traumatic experiences among people with PTSD is in fact markedly different from that which occurs when remembering sad or “neutral” life experiences.

In the study, which involved 28 different patients diagnosed with PTSD, researchers found that brain patterns were consistent across all individuals when they recalled their more typical life experiences. But when reminded of traumatic events from their past, neural responses differed significantly among the individuals.

“When people recall sad or neutral events from their past experience, the brain exhibits highly synchronous activity among all PTSD patients,” said Yale’s Ilan Harpaz-Rotem, professor of psychiatry and psychology at Yale and co-senior author of the paper. “However, when presented with stories of their own traumatic experiences, brain activity was highly individualized, fragmented, and disorganized.

“They are not like memories at all.”

The study, conducted with researchers at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, is published Nov. 30 in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

For the study, the researchers asked each of the 28 participants a range of questions, which pertained to their traumatic experiences, events in their lives that caused sadness (such as the death of a family member), and moments when they felt relaxed. Each person’s story was written down and then read back to them while they underwent fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) scans, which are used to map brain activity based on blood flow.

The researchers found that activity in the hippocampus — the area of the brain that forms memories of our experiences — followed similar patterns of activity among all subjects when they were reminded of sad or relaxing experiences from their lives, suggesting typical normal memory formation. 

But when stories about their traumatic experiences were read back to them, the similarities in hippocampal activity among the group members disappeared. Instead, the hippocampus of each subject exhibited highly individualized and fragmented activity, unlike the more synchronous patterns of brain activity during normal memory formation.

The results could explain why PTSD patients have difficulty recalling traumatic experiences in a coherent way and hints at why these past experiences can trigger disabling symptoms, the researchers say.

These insights may help psychotherapists guide PTSD patients to develop narratives about their experiences which may help them eliminate the sense of immediate threat caused by their trauma, Harpaz-Rotem said.

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JOURNAL

Nature Neuroscience

Traumatic memories are represented differently than regular sad memories in the brains of people with PTSD, new research shows

Peer-Reviewed Publication

THE MOUNT SINAI HOSPITAL / MOUNT SINAI SCHOOL OF MEDICINE

 

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EXPERIENCING TRAUMATIC MEMORIES

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CREDIT: MOUNT SINAI HEALTH SYSTEM

A new analysis of the brain activity of people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the first to reveal that traumatic memories are represented in the brain in an entirely different way than sad autobiographical memories.

This finding supports the notion that traumatic memories in PTSD are an alternate cognitive entity that deviates from regular memory, and may provide a biological explanation for why the recall of traumatic memories often displays as intrusions that differ profoundly from “regular” negative memories for patients with PTSD.

The study, conducted by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Yale University and published November 30 in Nature Neuroscience, was also the first to examine people’s real-life personal memories rather than looking at basic cognitive mechanisms, in order to link personal experience to brain function.

“For people with PTSD, recalling traumatic memories often displays as intrusions that differ profoundly from processing of ‘regular’ negative memories, yet until now, the neurobiological reasons for this qualitative difference have been poorly understood,” said Daniela Schiller, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry, and Neuroscience, at Icahn Mount Sinai and senior author of the paper. “Our data show that the brain does not treat traumatic memories as regular memories, or perhaps even as memories at all. We observed that brain regions known to be involved in memory are not activated when recalling a traumatic experience. This finding provides a neural target and focuses the goals of returning traumatic memories into a brain state akin to regular memory processing.”

Previous research has established that the brain region known as the hippocampus governs the formation and retrieval of episode memories. PTSD is associated with structural abnormalities (predominantly a reduction of volume) of the hippocampus, and impairments to hippocampal processes are focal to PTSD pathophysiology. The posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) has been demonstrated to be heavily involved in both narrative comprehension and autobiographical processing and, particularly, in emotional memory imagery. Alterations in PCC function and connectivity are specifically focal to PTSD.

To examine whether and how the hippocampus and posterior cingulate cortex differentiate traumatic autobiographical memories from sad ones, 28 participants diagnosed with PTSD underwent reactivation of autobiographical memory through script-driven imagery while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

First, to generate stimuli based on participants’ individual autobiographical memories, the researchers used an imagery development procedure. Participants elaborated on three types of autobiographical memories: the “PTSD” condition: the traumatic memory associated with their PTSD (e.g., combat, sexual assault, domestic violence), the “sad” condition: a sad, meaningful, but non-traumatizing experience (e.g., death of a family member or pet), the “calm” condition: a positive, calm event (e.g., memorable outdoor activities).

These highly personal depictions of autobiographical memory were then systematically arranged into an audio clip approximately 120 seconds long, narrated by a member of the research staff. Notably, the PTSD and sad narratives were scripted to maximize their structural similarity to each other, to control for content and arousal. Participants listened to this novel rendition of their own memories for the first time while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging.

The team hypothesized that across PTSD participants, semantic similarity would correspond to neural similarity: if the personal memories of two participants are semantically close, their patterns of neural responses while listening to audio recordings of these memories should be similar as well. If traumatic and sad memories are just different cases of autobiographical memories, the researchers expected to observe semantic-to-neural correspondence across pairs of traumatic memories and pairs of sad memories alike. However, if traumatic autobiographical memories depart from—rather than being a version of—sad autobiographical memories, then they would observe the semantic-to-neural relationship only for sad, but not traumatic, memories.

The research team was intrigued to find that patterns in the hippocampus showed a differentiation in semantic representation by narrative type. In the hippocampus, sad scripts that were semantically similar across participants elicited similar neural representations on fMRI. Conversely, thematically similar traumatic autobiographical memories did not elicit similar representations.

Importantly, the researchers also found a positive relationship between semantic content and neural patterns of the traumatic narratives in the PCC, a brain region that was recently conceptualized as a cognitive bridge between the world events and representation of the self.

The study identifies a neural basis of the different subjective experience of recalling a traumatic memory as opposed to a regular memory. The data suggests that a treatment target aimed at “returning” the traumatic memory representation into a typical hippocampal representation may be beneficial.

About the Mount Sinai Health System
Mount Sinai Health System is one of the largest academic medical systems in the New York metro area, with more than 43,000 employees working across eight hospitals, more than 400 outpatient practices, more than 300 labs, a school of nursing, and a leading school of medicine and graduate education. Mount Sinai advances health for all people, everywhere, by taking on the most complex health care challenges of our time—discovering and applying new scientific learning and knowledge; developing safer, more effective treatments; educating the next generation of medical leaders and innovators; and supporting local communities by delivering high-quality care to all who need it. Through the integration of its hospitals, labs, and schools, Mount Sinai offers comprehensive health care solutions from birth through geriatrics, leveraging innovative approaches such as artificial intelligence and informatics while keeping patients’ medical and emotional needs at the center of all treatment. The Health System includes approximately 7,400 primary and specialty care physicians; 13 joint-venture outpatient surgery centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida; and more than 30 affiliated community health centers. Hospitals within the System are consistently ranked by Newsweek’s® “The World’s Best Smart Hospitals, Best in State Hospitals, World Best Hospitals and Best Specialty Hospitals” and by U.S. News & World Report's® “Best Hospitals” and “Best Children’s Hospitals.” The Mount Sinai Hospital is on the U.S. News & World Report® “Best Hospitals” Honor Roll for 2023-2024.

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JOURNAL

Nature Neuroscience

DOI

10.1038/s41593-023-01483-5 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Neural patterns differentiate traumatic from sad autobiographical memories in PTSD'

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

30-Nov-2023

 

Despite pressures facing young families, parents take precious moments to play with their babies

Reports and Proceedings

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON

Four in five primary caregivers of nine-month-old babies reported cuddling, talking and playing with their little one several times a day, in England's first national long-term study of babies in over two decades, led by UCL (University College London). 

More than half engaged in physical or turn-taking play, singing, pretend games and noisy play with their babies several times a day – activities which were linked to improved early language development. Around three quarters showed their babies picture books or took them outside at least once a day. 

For just over one in 14 (7.4%) of these babies, most of those daily interactions will be with their father, who is their primary caregiver. Just 20 years ago, only one in 1,000 (0.11%) of nine-month-olds were cared for primarily by their dad at this age. 

The first report from the Children of the 2020s study, published today by the UK Department for Education (DfE) and led by UCL in partnership with Ipsos and the universities of Cambridge and Oxford, and Birkbeck, University of London, revealed that these home activities are having positive effects on babies’ understanding of common words, like ‘ball’, ‘bye-bye’ and ‘mummy’, as babies that played more with caregivers understood more words at this age.  

Overall, nine-month-olds understood an average of 14 out of 51 common words. This was similar to pre-pandemic norms, despite added pressure on today’s families. 

The findings also showed that parents are navigating significant challenges in their babies’ first months, with a quarter facing at least some financial strain and around a fifth reporting seeking help from a doctor for feelings of depression since the birth of their child. 

Commissioned by the DfE, Children of the 2020s is following more than 8,500 families and their babies, born in England between September and November 2021. It is the first long-term, nationally representative study of babies since the UK Millennium Cohort Study was launched more than 20 years ago. Children of the 2020s will follow families for at least the first five years of their children’s lives, shedding new light on the factors that can influence early years development. The first survey took place when the babies were, on average, nine and a half months old. 

The first findings from the study paint a picture of a new generation of infants and their families. 

Today’s parents 

• 32% of today’s primary caregivers were on parental leave from their job when their child was nine months old, compared to just 2.5% of primary caregivers 20 years ago. 
• Compared to parents raising children two decades ago, today’s caregivers are more likely to be educated to degree level or higher (50% v 33%), and employed (71% v 51%).  

Family finances 

• 25% of families with nine-month-olds had experienced significant financial strain, such as having difficulties managing finances, not keeping up with bills, being unable to afford essential baby items, and having to skip or cut the size of meals. 
• Today’s parents are less likely to own their home (50% v 64%) and more likely to rent (42% v 31%) than parents two decades ago. 
• 47% of today’s parents own their home with the help of a loan or mortgage, and 3% of families own their home outright. Among those renting when their babies were nine months, 24% rented from a private landlord, 10% from a local authority, and 8% from a housing association.  

Childcare 

• 43% of families were using some form of regular childcare when their babies were nine months. Of these families, most were using informal childcare provided by relatives or friends. However, one in eight were using formal childcare such as day nurseries or childminders. 
• Parents on the highest incomes were almost six times as likely to use formal childcare (23% v 4%) than those from the most disadvantaged homes. 

• They were also more likely to use informal childcare (40% v 31%), mainly from grandparents and other relatives and friends. 

Screen use 

• 72% of parents said their nine-month-olds spent some time watching television, videos or screens every day. On average, children who watched screens typically did so for an average of 41 minutes a day, however 7% of babies had more than two hours of screen time per day and 28% had none at all. 
• Children of the 2020s is one of the first and largest studies to measure screen time in infancy. 

Play and language development 

• At nine months, those who often played turn-taking games, like peek-a-boo, with their caregivers understood five more words, on average, than babies who did these things least. Similarly, those who were read to several times a day understood four more words, and babies who engaged in frequent physical play understood three more words, on average. 
• While the researchers caution they do not yet know whether these babies that understand more words at nine months will continue to progress more quickly, the findings are in line with other evidence that play in infancy and early childhood can improve long term language and cognitive development. 

Access to healthcare services 

• 24% of parents reported they had had trouble getting an appointment with a GP in the past 12 months, and 19% had had problems accessing a health visitor. 
• More than a quarter of mothers (26%) had used breastfeeding support services since their baby was born, with 13% paying for breastfeeding support. 

Covid-19 

• 14% of mothers had had a confirmed or suspected Covid-19 infection during their pregnancy. Between birth and age nine months, two in five babies (41%) and more than half of their parents/carers (57%) had been infected with Covid-19. 
• 74% of primary caregivers had at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, and 37% of mothers had had a dose during pregnancy. 

Study director, Professor Pasco Fearon (UCL Psychology & Language Sciences and the Centre for Family Research at the University of Cambridge), said: “We are extremely excited to unveil these first findings from the landmark Children of the 2020s study, the first new national study of babies to be launched since the millennium. These vital new insights reveal the dramatic shifts in our society over that time, with fathers taking a greater role in parenting and parents more likely to be balancing caring responsibilities with work and parental leave. 

“As the first post-Covid study of families with babies, Children of the 2020s shows the many challenges parents are now facing as they deal with rising costs, health and mental health difficulties, and issues accessing public services. There are, however, very encouraging signs of resilience, with parents showing how engaged they are with creating a healthy home learning environment for their children, spending a substantial amount of time interacting positively with their babies and helping to develop their early language skills.” 

A Department for Education spokesperson said: "The department commissioned this research to better understand early childhood development factors which will help shape policy decisions. We are encouraged by many parents engaging in activities like reading and play, recognising its importance in early development. 

“Understanding the pressures many households are under, we've expanded free school meal eligibility several times since 2010, to more groups of children than any other Government over the past century. This is in addition to offering record financial support averaging £3,300 per household, implementing our transformational childcare reforms, increasing the National Living Wage, and providing help for households with food, energy and other essential costs." 

Children of the 2020s is the latest in the UK’s rich portfolio of national cohort studies, joining long-running studies of people born in 1946, 1958, 1970, 1989-90 and 2000-02, all of which are based at UCL.

• Findings from wave 1 of the Children of the 2020s (Cot20s) longitudinal study, published by the Department for Education
• Children of the 2020s study website
• UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies
• IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society

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METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Children of the 2020s: first survey of families at age 9 months

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

30-Nov-2023

Early body contact develops premature babies' social skills

Peer-Reviewed Publication

KAROLINSKA INSTITUTET

 

IMAGE: 

WIBKE JONAS

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CREDIT: ULF SIRBORN

Skin-to-skin contact between parent and infant during the first hours after a very premature birth helps develop the child's social skills. This is according to a new study published in JAMA Network Open by researchers from Karolinska Institutet and others. The study also shows that fathers may play a more important role than previous research has shown.

In current practice, very premature babies are usually placed in an incubator to keep them warm and to stabilize them during the first hours after birth. In the “Immediate parent-infant skin-to-skin study” (IPISTOSS), 91 premature babies born at 28 to 33 weeks were randomized to either traditional care in an incubator or immediate skin-to-skin contact with one of the parents. The study has generated several results that show, among other things, that immediate skin-to-skin contact is safe for babies and beneficial for their cardiorespiratory stabilization and temperature maintenance, and that it is perceived as valuable by the parents.

Now, as part of this study, the researchers have also studied the social development at four months of age of 71 of these premature babies. The children were randomly assigned to receive either standard care in an incubator or to receive care resting on one of their parents' breasts, either the mother's or the father's, for the first six hours after birth.

"What is new about our study is that we also allowed the fathers to have skin-to-skin contact immediately after the birth. In most previous studies, it is the mother who is the primary caregiver, but in our study it was the fathers who had the most skin-to-skin contact," says Wibke Jonas, midwife, senior lecturer and associate professor at Karolinska Institutet's Department of Women's and Children's Health, as well as research leader and last author of the study.

"The study has identified fathers as a previously untapped resource that really has an important function in having immediate skin-to-skin contact with their infant if the mother is not available," says Siri Lilliesköld, PhD student at the same department and specialist nurse in neonatal care, and first author of the study.

After four months, the social interaction between mother and infant was filmed and assessed by two psychologists who did not know which infant had received early skin-to-skin contact and which had not.

The quality of the interaction was measured according to the Parent-Child Early Relational Assessment (PCERA) scale, where different elements are graded between one and five, with one being cause for concern and five being very good quality.

The infants who received immediate skin-to-skin contact had significantly better results in a subscale measuring the infant's communicative and social skills. On the five-point scale, their average score was closer to four, while the infants cared for according to current practice were just above three.

"What you could see was that the infants in the skin-to-skin group had slightly better communication skills, they were a bit more social and happier," says Wibke Jonas.

Premature babies have developmental challenges as they grow up and need a lot of support. Even though medical developments have come a long way, the care of these babies still needs to be developed, the researchers say.

"If we combine the immediate medical care of the very premature babies with a relatively simple intervention such as skin-to-skin contact, it has effects on the infants social skills," says Jonas Wibke and continues.

“Previous studies have shown that premature babies perform slightly poorer when socially interacting, for example, they do not give as clear signals in the interaction with their mothers. The closeness between babies and their parents at birth may therefore stimulate later interaction and thus the development of the infant.”

The benefits of immediate skin-to-skin contact are so clear that both Wibke Jonas and Siri Lilliesköld believe it should be introduced now in Swedish neonatal care. And this work is already underway, they say.

'We have worked very actively to minimize separation between infants and parents in general, and now we have the evidence to do the same with these very premature babies,” says Siri Lilliesköld.

The research team will continue to report on the development of the infants at 12 and 24 months.

The study is a collaboration between researchers from Karolinska Institutet and the University Hospital of Stavanger, Norway, and the University of Turku, Finland. The research was funded by, among others, the Swedish Research Council, Region Stockholm and Stiftelsen Barnavård. The researchers declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

Publication: "Skin-to-Skin Contact at Birth for Very Preterm Infants and Mother-Infant Interaction Quality at 4 Months - A Secondary Analysis of the IPISTOSS Randomized Clinical Trial", Siri Lilliesköld, Karoline Lode-Kolz, Siren Rettedal, Johanna Lindstedt, Agnes Linnér, Hanne Markhus Pike, Sari Ahlqvist-Björkroth, Ulrika Ådén, Wibke Jonas. JAMA Network Open, online November 30, 2023, doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.44469

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JOURNAL

JAMA Network Open

DOI

10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.44469 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Randomized controlled/clinical trial

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Skin-to-Skin Contact at Birth for Very Preterm Infants and Mother-Infant Interaction Quality at 4 Months - A Secondary Analysis of the IPISTOSS Randomized Clinical Trial

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

30-Nov-2023

 

Twin research indicates that that a vegan diet improves cardiovascular health

A Stanford Medicine-led trial of identical twins comparing vegan and omnivore diets found that a vegan diet improves overall cardiovascular health

Peer-Reviewed Publication

STANFORD MEDICINE

In a study with 22 pairs of identical twins, Stanford Medicine researchers and their colleagues have found that a vegan diet improves cardiovascular health in as little as eight weeks.

Although it’s well-known that eating less meat improves cardiovascular health, diet studies are often hampered by factors such as genetic differences, upbringing and lifestyle choices. By studying identical twins, however, the researchers were able to control for genetics and limit the other factors, as the twins grew up in the same households and reported similar lifestyles.

“Not only did this study provide a groundbreaking way to assert that a vegan diet is healthier than the conventional omnivore diet, but the twins were also a riot to work with,” said Christopher Gardner, PhD, the Rehnborg Farquhar Professor and a professor of medicine. “They dressed the same, they talked the same and they had a banter between them that you could have only if you spent an inordinate amount of time together.”

The study will publish Nov. 30 in JAMA Network Open. Gardner is the senior author. The study was co-first authored by Matthew Landry, PhD, a former Stanford Prevention Research Center postdoctoral scholar, now at the University of California, Irvine, and Catherine Ward, PhD, a post-doctoral scholar at the center.

Twin participants

The trial, conducted from May to July 2022, consisted of 22 pairs of identical twins for a total of 44 participants. The study authors selected healthy participants without cardiovascular disease from the Stanford Twin Registry — a database of fraternal and identical twins who have agreed to participate in research studies — and matched one twin from each pair with either a vegan or omnivore diet. 

Both diets were healthy, replete with vegetables, legumes, fruits and whole grains and void of sugars and refined starches. The vegan diet was entirely plant-based, included no meat or animal products such as eggs or milk. The omnivore diet included chicken, fish, eggs, cheese, dairy and other animal-sourced foods.

During the first four weeks, a meal service delivered 21 meals per week — seven breakfasts, lunches and dinners. For the remaining four weeks, the participants prepared their own meals.

A registered dietitian, or “diet whisperer,” according to Gardner, was on call to offer suggestions and answer questions regarding the diets during the duration of the study. The participants were interviewed about their dietary intake and kept a log of the food they ate.

Forty-three participants completed the study which, Gardner said, demonstrates how feasible it is to learn how to a prepare a healthy diet in four weeks.

“Our study used a generalizable diet that is accessible to anyone, because 21 out of the 22 vegans followed through with the diet,” said Gardner, who is a professor in the Stanford Prevention Research Center. “This suggests that anyone who chooses a vegan diet can improve their long-term health in two months, with the most change seen in the first month.”

Improving health

The authors found the most improvement over the first four weeks of the diet change. The participants with a vegan diet had significantly lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels, insulin and body weight — all of which are associated with improved cardiovascular health — than the omnivore participants.

At three time points — at the beginning of the trial, at four weeks and at eight weeks ­­— researchers weighed the participants and drew their blood. The average baseline LDL-C level for the vegans was 110.7 mg/dL and 118.5 mg/dL for the omnivore participants; it dropped to 95.5 for vegans and 116.1 for omnivores at the end of the study. The optimal healthy LDL-C level is less than 100.

Because the participants already had healthy LDL-C levels, there was less room for improvement, Gardner said, speculating that participants who had higher baseline levels would show greater change.

The vegan participants also showed about a 20% drop in fasting insulin — higher insulin level is a risk factor for developing diabetes. The vegans also lost an average of 4.2 more pounds than the omnivores.

“Based on these results and thinking about longevity, most of us would benefit from going to a more plant-based diet,” Gardner said.

The vegan participants (and the omnivores to some extent) did the three most important things to improve cardiovascular health, according to Gardner: They cut back on saturated fats, increased dietary fiber and lost weight.

A global flair

Gardner emphasizes that although most people will probably not go vegan, a nudge in the plant-based direction could improve health. “A vegan diet can confer additional benefits such as increased gut bacteria and the reduction of telomere loss, which slows aging in the body,” Gardner said.

“What’s more important than going strictly vegan is including more plant-based foods into your diet,” said Gardner, who has been “mostly vegan” for the last 40 years. “Luckily, having fun with vegan multicultural foods like Indian masala, Asian stir-fry and African lentil-based dishes can be a great first step.”

Gardner is a member of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, the Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance, the Maternal and Child Health Research Institute, and the Stanford Cancer Institute.

The study was funded by the Vogt Foundation; the Stanford Clinical and Translational Science Award; and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

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About Stanford Medicine

Stanford Medicine is an integrated academic health system comprising the Stanford School of Medicine and adult and pediatric health care delivery systems. Together, they harness the full potential of biomedicine through collaborative research, education and clinical care for patients. For more information, please visit med.stanford.edu.

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JOURNAL

JAMA Network Open

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Randomized controlled/clinical trial

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

30-Nov-2023

Does Germany need to rethink globalization?

Timothy Rooks Berlin

DW
22 hours ago

The current interconnected global economic system just isn't working, some economists say. They are calling for a recalculation of globalization, and what it means to be wealthy, independent, and secure.

As sand has gotten in the wheels of global markets, governments and businesses need to navigate what this means, according to Moritz Schularick

 MSC/dpa/picture alliance


Globalization has had a rough time lately. Worldwide, just-in-time supply chains suffered under stiff tariffs. COVID-19 shutdowns and travel restrictions caused further distress. Now, the war in Ukraine and sanctions on Russian companies are making matters even worse. Inflation and price increases have made energy and food more expensive. Ordinary customers, especially the poor, are suffering.

Is the world order falling apart? Is the status quo even worth saving? The world is changing, and our understanding of globalization must change, too, according to Moritz Schularick, president of Germany's Kiel Institute for the World Economy.

The focus of globalization can no longer be on squeezing the greatest possible profit from global value chains. It must also take into account "their reliability and their political implications," he wrote in a publication accompanying a discussion organized by the Federal Chancellor Helmut Schmidt Foundation (BKHS). "It will be a new world economic order compared to what we have been used to for the last 30 years, and it will challenge us."

In other words, while still enjoying many of the benefits of globalization, countries must avoid becoming too dependent on — or vulnerable to — trading with countries that are not close friends, something that Russia's war in Ukraine has shown a spotlight on.

For Moritz Schularick the main question is: How secure and independent do we want to be?

Michael Zapf/BKHS

Remaking globalization, from a German point of view

Germany, in particular, made three big bets that are not paying off as planned, says Schularick: continued growth through Chinese trade, cheap energy from Russia, and minimal defense spending under America's protective umbrella.

All three of these are coming back to haunt Europe's biggest economy now, he argues. Still, there is room for hope as Germany has great potential to improve in many areas. Importantly, it must look forward, not backward.

The lecture on December 4 at the Museum of Communication Berlin brought together a big audience to talk about the complicated issue. Schularick, who is also a professor of economics, led the discussion that focused on renewable energy, China, and closer European business integration.

Looking for solutions among problems

The time for cheap Russian gas is over. Germany and the rest of Europe must concentrate on building up renewable energy capabilities. In the meantime, new, non-Russian sources of energy must be secured to keep things running. Not only will this be better for the environment, as COP28 delegates in Dubai are currently discussing. Clean energy is also often local energy.

More complicated is Germany's relationship with China. Schularick encourages government officials to take a closer look at their foreign and security policies. They should be clearer about who are friends and who are not.

China poses a great challenge, not so much because it is so strong, but because its economy has weakened under a number of setbacks. This means fewer Chinese companies buying high-tech German exports. It also means China will likely turn to its own manufacturers as a way to grow and export its way to out of problems. This will make it a direct competitor to Germany, says Schularick. For German companies doing business in China "the fat years are over."

To counter this, Germany and the rest of the EU need to come together. This includes more digitalization, and strengthening the European Banking Union. The internal European market also needs to be liberalized and allowed to grow faster. It is a huge market, it just needs to be put to better use.

Reinventing globalization means talking about renewable energy, China and closer European integration

 Michael Zapf/BKHS

A to-do list closer to home

A single business, or even a whole branch of industry, can't make much headway alone. To make a real difference, businesses need to work with governments to plan for success, says Schularick.

This is a timely warning as many estimates about Germany's 2024 gross domestic product (GDP) growth come in at under 1%. But how can people be convinced about the need for radical change?

"I think we need a better network between academia and politics," Schularick told DW, "especially for these global issues." Precisely here he sees Berlin lagging behind locations like London, Paris, or Washington. Germany has many rules to avoid crisis, but is not prepared with crisis management skills to deal when a crisis actually arises, he says.

"We have to build up this intellectual infrastructure in Berlin, with think tanks, with media, with research and science, so that we can better anticipate what is happening in the world in the future."

Global security versus economic efficiency

This may seem a bit abstract. More concretely, a reorganization of globalization could mean having or bringing home some manufacturing production capacity to ensure supplies. It could also mean leaving behind some energy-intensive industries.

For companies, it means diversification in terms of where to produce and sell goods or services, while also securing sources of raw materials. These are all big changes that would upend decades of interdependence.

Still, Schularick is hopeful. Over the past two decades, globalization delivered on economic progress, and though it could have done better, many people enjoyed its benefits.

Yet, the world is not more peaceful or stable than 20 years ago. And it is this failure that needs rebalancing. In the future, there will have to be a tradeoff between efficiency and security. The question is: "What price are we willing to pay for less efficiency?"

Edited by Kristie Pladson

Will geopolitical tensions end globalization? 02:40


Timothy Rooks One of DW's business reporters, Timothy Rooks is based in Berlin.