Epigenetic changes can cause type 2 diabetes

Peer-Reviewed Publication

LUND UNIVERSITY

Do epigenetic changes cause type 2 diabetes, or do the changes occur only after a person has become ill? A new study by researchers at Lund University provides increased support for the idea that epigenetic changes can cause type 2 diabetes. The researchers behind the new findings published in Nature Communications now aim to develop methods for disease prevention.

We inherit our genes from our parents, and they seldom change. However, epigenetic changes that arise due to environmental and lifestyle factors can affect the function of genes.

“Our new extensive study confirms our previous findings from smaller studies, showing that epigenetic changes can contribute to the development of type 2 diabetes. In this study, we have also identified new genes that impact the development of the disease. Our hope is that with the help of these results, we can develop methods that can be used to prevent type 2 diabetes,” says Charlotte Ling, professor of diabetes and epigenetics at Lund University's Diabetes Centre (LUDC), who led the study.

The same epigenetic changes

The researchers studied epigenetics in insulin-producing cells from donors and found 5584 sites in the genome with changes that differed between 25 individuals with type 2 diabetes and 75 individuals without the disease. The same epigenetic changes found in people with type 2 diabetes were also found in individuals with elevated blood sugar levels, which increase the risk of developing the disease.

“Those of us who study epigenetics, have long tried to understand whether epigenetic changes cause type 2 diabetes or if the changes occur after the disease has already developed. Because we saw the same epigenetic changes in people with type 2 diabetes and individuals at risk for the disease, we conclude that these changes may contribute to the development of type 2 diabetes," says Tina Rönn, lead author and researcher at LUDC.

The study identified 203 genes with different expression in individuals with type 2 diabetes compared to the control group. The researchers found that the gene RHOT1 showed epigenetic changes in people with type 2 diabetes and that it also played a key role in insulin secretion in insulin-producing cells. When they knocked out the gene expression of RHOT1 in cells from donors without type 2 diabetes, insulin secretion decreased.

“When we examined the same type of cells in rats with diabetes, we found a lack of RHOT1, confirming the gene’s importance for insulin secretion,” says Tina Rönn.

Methods that can prevent the disease

One goal of the research is to develop a blood-based biomarker that can predict who is at risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Therefore, the researchers investigated whether their results from insulin-producing cells in the pancreas were reflected in the blood of living people. They found epigenetic changes in the blood of a group of 540 people without the disease and they linked this to the future development of type 2 diabetes in half of the individuals.

Factors such as unhealthy diet, sedentary lifestyle, and ageing increase the risk of type 2 diabetes, and they also affect our epigenetics. With the new study, researchers have identified new mechanisms that may make it possible to develop methods to help prevent type 2 diabetes.

“If we succeed in developing an epigenetic biomarker, we can identify individuals with epigenetic changes before they become ill. These individuals can, for example, receive personalised lifestyle advice that can reduce their risk of disease, or we can develop methods that aim to correct the activity of certain genes using epigenetic editing,” says Charlotte Ling.

---

JOURNAL

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-023-43719-9 

ARTICLE TITLE

Genes with epigenetic alterations in human pancreatic islets impact mitochondrial function, insulin secretion, and type 2 diabetes

 

Resource-efficient and climate-friendly with sodium-ion batteries

Peer-Reviewed Publication

CHALMERS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

 

IMAGE: 

SODIUM-ION BATTERIES CONTAIN SODIUM – A VERY COMMON SUBSTANCE FOUND IN TABLE SALT – INSTEAD OF LITHIUM.
 

view more 

CREDIT: CHALMERS

The transition to a society without fossil fuels means that the need for batteries is increasing at a rapid pace. At the same time, the increase will mean a shortage of the metals lithium and cobalt, which are key components in the most common battery types. One option is a sodium-ion battery, where table salt and biomass from the forest industry make up the main raw materials. Now, researchers from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, show that these sodium-ion batteries have an equivalent climate impact as their lithium-ion counterparts – without the risk of running out of raw materials. 
"The materials we use in the batteries of the future will be important in order to be able to switch to renewable energy and a fossil-free vehicle fleet," says Rickard Arvidsson, Associate Professor of Environmental Systems Analysis at Chalmers.

According to the European Commission's Critical Raw Materials Act, the demand for critical raw battery materials is expected to increase exponentially as EU countries transition to renewable energy systems and electric vehicles. The green transition will also require more local production of batteries and other new fossil-free technologies, and a steady supply of raw materials is needed to meet demand. At the same time, such production carries a high risk of supply disruptions, due to the limited number of sources for raw materials.
"Lithium-ion batteries are becoming a dominant technology in the world and they are better for the climate than fossil-based technology is, especially when it comes to transport. But lithium poses a bottleneck. You can't produce lithium-based batteries at the same rate as you want to produce electric cars, and the deposits risk being depleted in the long term," says Rickard Arvidsson. In addition to this, critical battery materials, such as lithium and cobalt, are largely mined in just a few places in the world, posing a risk to the supply. 

Sodium-ion batteries offer promising technology
The development of new battery technologies is moving fast in the quest for the next generation of sustainable energy storage – which should preferably have a long lifetime, have a high energy density and be easy to produce. The research team at Chalmers chose to look at sodium-ion batteries, which contain sodium – a very common substance found in common sodium chloride – instead of lithium. In a new study, they have carried out a so-called life cycle assessment of the batteries, where they have examined their total environmental and resource impact during raw material extraction and manufacturing.
"We came to the conclusion that sodium-ion batteries are much better than lithium-ion batteries in terms of impact on mineral resource scarcity, and equivalent in terms of climate impact. Depending on which scenario you look at, they end up at between 60 and just over 100 kilogrammes of carbon dioxide equivalents per kilowatt hour theoretical electricity storage capacity, which is lower than previously reported for this type of sodium-ion battery. It's clearly a promising technology," says Rickard Arvidsson.

The researchers also identified a number of measures with the potential to further reduce climate impact, such as developing an environmentally better electrolyte, as it accounted for a large part of the battery's total impact.

Green energy requires energy storage
Today's sodium-ion batteries are already expected to be used for stationary energy storage in the electricity grid, and with continued development, they will probably also be used in electric vehicles in the future.
"Energy storage is a prerequisite for the expansion of wind and solar power. Given that the storage is done predominantly with batteries, the question is what those batteries will be made from? Increased demand for lithium and cobalt could be an obstacle to this development," says Rickard Arvidsson.

The major advantage of the technology is that the materials in the sodium-ion batteries are abundant and can be found all over the world. One electrode in the batteries – the cathode – has sodium ions as a charge carrier, and the other electrode – the anode – consists of hard carbon, which in one of the examples the Chalmers researchers have investigated can be produced from biomass from the forest industry. In terms of production processes and geopolitics, sodium-ion batteries are also an alternative that can accelerate the transition to a fossil-free society.
"Batteries based on abundant raw materials could reduce geopolitical risks and dependencies on specific regions, both for battery manufacturers and countries," says Rickard Arvidsson. 

More about the study
The study is a prospective life cycle assessment of two different sodium-ion battery cells where the environmental and resource impact is calculated from cradle to gate, i.e. from raw material extraction to the manufacture of a battery cell. The functional unit of the study is 1 kWh theoretical electricity storage capacity at the cell level.  Both types of battery cells are mainly based on abundant raw materials. The anode is made up of hard carbon from either bio-based lignin or fossil raw materials, and the cathode is made up of so-called "Prussian white" (consisting of sodium, iron, carbon and nitrogen). The electrolyte contains a sodium salt. The production is modelled to correspond to a future, large-scale production. For example, the actual production of the battery cell is based on today's large-scale production of lithium-ion batteries in gigafactories.  
Two different electricity mixes were tested, as well as two different types of so-called allocation methods – that is, allocation of resources and emissions. One where the climate and resource impact is distributed between coproducts based on mass, and one method where all impact is allocated to the main product (the sodium-ion battery and its components and materials).

The article Prospective life cycle assessment of sodium-ion batteries made from abundant elements has been published in the Journal of Industrial Ecology. The authors of the study are Rickard Arvidsson, Sanna Wickerts, Anders Nordelöf, Magdalena Svanström and Patrik Johansson. The researchers are active at Chalmers University of Technology.

The study was funded by the Swedish Energy Agency through the Battery Fund Program.

 

For more information, please contact:

Rickard Arvidsson, Associate Professor, Department of Technology Economics and Management, Chalmers University of Technology, +46 31 772 21 61, rickard.arvidsson@chalmers.se

The researchers involved in this research, Rickard Arvidsson, Sanna Wickerts, Anders Nordelöf, Magdalena Svanström and Patrik Johansson speak English and Swedish fluently and are available for live and pre-recorded interviews. At Chalmers, we have podcast studios and broadcast filming equipment on site and would be able to assist a request for a television, radio or podcast interview.

---

JOURNAL

Journal of Industrial Ecology

DOI

10.1111/jiec.13452 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Prospective life cycle assessment of sodium-ion batteries made from abundant elements

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

13-Dec-2023

 

A survey of real-time rendering on Web3D application

Peer-Reviewed Publication

BEIJING ZHONGKE JOURNAL PUBLISING CO. LTD.

 

IMAGE: 

ALL REAL-TIME RENDERING FRAMEWORKS ARE CLASSIFIED INTO THREE CATEGORIES, NAMELY WEB-BASED REAL-TIMERENDERING FRAMEWORKS, SERVER-BASED REAL-TIME RENDERING FRAMEWORKS, AND END-CLOUD COLLABORATIVE REAL-TIMERENDERING FRAMEWORKS.

view more 

CREDIT: BEIJING ZHONGKE JOURNAL PUBLISING CO. LTD.

With the growth of web technologies, including HTML5 and WebAssembly, in the mobile Internet era, theconcept of “Web+” is gradually taking root in all industries and exerting a profound impact on people's lives.Be it travel, shopping, learning, or entertainment, several the activities in our daily lives can now be performedthrough a web browser. Meanwhile, human perceptions have gradually extended from the real world to thevirtual world of the internet. This has, in turn, created an even higher expectation for Web technologies, that is,Web technologies should not only realize the various application needs of users but also fulfill their demandfor perceptual experience at the same time. However, most current web applications still use text, sound,image, video, and 2D animation as their main communication media. These traditional forms have limitationswhich make them unable meet growing needs for a multi-sensory experience of high interactivity and immersionin the virtual world. With this background, 3D visualization technology has started to integrate intothe web and has become a new major trend.With the rapid development of Internet and 3D visualization technologies, sustained progress has been madein web-based 3D visualization technology. Today, web-based 3D visualization technology known as“Web3D” has enabled the display of 3D virtual scenes on mainstream web browsers, setting off new possibilitiesfor next-generation web services based on visualization. According to Zhao Qingping of the ChineseAcademy of Engineering, Web3D exerts a transformative and disruptive impact on existing browsers andemail systems and even becomes a new gateway to the Internet. In recent years, a number of Web3Dapplications have emerged in various industries, with typical examples including Web3D online tourism,Web3D online architecture, Web3D online educational environments, Web3D online medical care, andWeb3D online shopping.In all these applications, real-time rendering technology plays a key role: it not only affects the renderingeffect and quality but also determines the quality of user experience and future development of these applications.Therefore, it is necessary to examine the relationship between real-time rendering and Web3Dapplications and take a closer look at the real-time rendering technologies, tools, and frameworks used inWeb3D applications.

---

JOURNAL

Virtual Reality & Intelligent Hardware

DOI

10.1016/j.vrih.2022.04.002 

ARTICLE TITLE

A survey of real-time rendering on Web3D application

Survey of lightweighting methods of huge 3D models for online Web3D visualization

Peer-Reviewed Publication

BEIJING ZHONGKE JOURNAL PUBLISING CO. LTD.

 

IMAGE: 

SKELETON GRAPH IS A COMMON GRAPH USED FOR SHAPE DESCRIPTORS OF GEOMETRY MODELS, ESPECIALLY FOR ARTICULATED SHAPES. A SKELETON GRAPH IS ALWAYS OBTAINED FROM A VOXELIZED SOLID MODEL AND DESCRIBED USING A SET OF THE MOST REPRESENTATIVE VOXELSMEDIA–

view more 

CREDIT: BEIJING ZHONGKE JOURNAL PUBLISING CO. LTD.

Currently, to access or interact with the world at home has become a popular lifestyle, and its great facility hasstimulated enormous demands in every industry sector. With various related applications emerging, theWeb3D-based systems that allow us to visualize, share, and interact with the 3D virtual environments throughthe internet have been the most popular due to their possibility of immersing, no installation required, andsecurity of information. However, a significant amount of literature or research has addressed a few issues.

The online Web3D visualization of 3D virtual models (or scenes) has become an imperative means of dataaccessing and sharing in the future, and a wide range of implements are available in online games, tourism,education, engineering, construction, etc. Meanwhile, there is a further increase in demand for more data typeand heavier data volume. However, with the user demand for a more refined model and the increasingcomplexity of the model itself, the resource conflict between the model processing requirement and thecapabilities of the Web3D system has evolved into a serious problem. Consequently, the online Web3Dvisualization has become a tough and challenging task. The huge 3D models (or scenes) are always man-mademodels developed using the modeling software such as 3ds Max and Solid Works. During the modelingprocedure, many operations such as copy/paste and drag and drop can bring numerous repeated patterns intothe final model based on translation, rotation, and scaling. Various research aiming at detecting and removingthese redundancies based on repeated patterns have been conducted. Based on our previous work, the lightweight approach that reduces the amount of data or its consumption forthe visualization system using the information hiding and geometric slimming strategy will be reviewed inthis paper. Furthermore, considering the main resource limitation of Web3D browsers in the occupied cachebuffer, network consumption, and online operation complexity, we will endeavor to present and summarizesome of the most popular geometrically lightweighting work for online Web3D visualization. As far as we areconcerned, this approach is more effective and functional in practical projects. Meanwhile, owing to ourlimited attempts and experiments, we believe that there still exist numerous other methods or potentialsolutions beyond the review presented in this paper.The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. The popular lightweighting methods are firstly elaboratedin section 2. The characteristics of the reviewed method are described in section 3 from a comparativeperspective. The conclusion and future work are presented in section 4.

---

JOURNAL

Virtual Reality & Intelligent Hardware

DOI

10.1016/j.vrih.2020.02.002 

ARTICLE TITLE

Survey of lightweighting methods of huge 3D models for online Web3D visualization

 

Highly resolved precipitation maps based on AI

KIT researchers use deep learning to enhance the spatial and temporal resolution of coarse precipitation maps

Peer-Reviewed Publication

KARLSRUHER INSTITUT FÜR TECHNOLOGIE (KIT)

 

IMAGE: 

KIT RESEARCHERS USE AI TO PRODUCE HIGHLY RESOLVED RADAR FILMS FROM COARSELY RESOLVED MAPS IN ORDER TO BETTER FORECAST LOCAL PRECIPITATION EVENTS. (PHOTO: LUCA GLAWION, KIT)

view more 

CREDIT: PHOTO: LUCA GLAWION, KIT

Strong precipitation may cause natural disasters, such as floodings or landslides. Global climate models are required to forecast the frequency of these extreme events, which is expected to change as a result of climate change. Researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have now developed a first method based on artificial intelligence (AI), by means of which the precision of coarse precipitation fields generated by global climate models can be increased. The researchers succeeded in improving spatial resolution of precipitation fields from 32 to two kilometers and temporal resolution from one hour to ten minutes. This higher resolution is required to better forecast the more frequent occurrence of heavy local precipitation and the resulting natural disasters in future. (DOI 10.1029/2023EA002906)

 

Many natural disasters, such as floodings or landslides, are directly caused by extreme precipitation. Researchers expect that increasing average temperatures will cause extreme precipitation events to further increase. To adapt to a changing climate and prepare for disasters at an early stage, precise local and global data on the current and future water cycle are indispensable. “Precipitation is highly variable in space and time and, hence, difficult to forecast, in particular on the local level,” says Dr. Christian Chwala from the Atmospheric Environmental Research Division of KIT’s Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK-IFU), KIT’s Campus Alpine in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.” For this reason, we want to enhance the resolution of precipitation fields generated e.g. by global climate models and improve their classification as regards possible threats, such as floodings.”

 

Higher Resolution for More Precise Regional Climate Models 

Currently used global climate models are based on a grid that is not fine enough to precisely present the variability of precipitation. Highly resolved precipitation maps can only be produced with computationally expensive and, hence, spatially or temporally limited models. “For this reason, we have developed an AI-based generative neural network, called GAN, and trained it with high-resolution radar precipitation fields. In this way, the GAN learns how to generate realistic precipitation fields and derive their temporal sequence from coarsely resolved data,” says Luca Glawion from IMK-IFU. “The network is able to generate highly resolved radar precipitation films from very coarsely resolved maps.” These refined radar maps not only show how rain cells develop and move, but precisely reconstruct local rain statistics and the corresponding extreme value distribution.

 

“Our method serves as a basis to increase the resolution of coarsely grained precipitation fields, such that the high spatial and temporal variability of precipitation can be reproduced adequately and local effects can be studied,” says Julius Polz from IMK-IFU. “Our deep learning method is quicker by several orders of magnitude than the calculation of such highly resolved precipitation fields with numerical weather models usually applied to regionally refine data of global climate models.” The researchers point out that their method also generates an ensemble of different potential precipitation fields. This is important, as a multitude of physically plausible highly resolved solutions exists for each coarsely resolved precipitation field. Similar to a weather forecast, an ensemble allows for a more precise determination of the associated uncertainty.

 

Higher Resolution for Better Forecasts under Climate Change

The results show that the AI model and methodology developed by the researchers will enable future use of neural networks to improve the spatial and temporal resolution of precipitation calculated by climate models. This will allow for a more precise analysis of the impacts and developments of precipitation in a changing climate.

 

“In a next step, we will apply the method to global climate simulations that transfer specific large-scale weather situations to a future world with a changed climate, e.g. to the year of 2100. The higher resolution of precipitation events simulated with our method will allow for a better estimation of the impacts the weather conditions that caused the flooding of the river Ahr in 2021 would have had in a world warmer by 2 degrees,” Glawion explains. Such information is of decisive importance to develop climate adaptation methods. 

 

Original Publication

Luca Glawion, Julius Polz, Harald Kunstmann, Benjamin Fersch, Christian Chwala: spateGAN: Spatio-Temporal Downscaling of Rainfall Fields Using a cGAN Approach. Earth and Space Science, 2023. DOI 10.1029/2023EA002906.

https://doi.org/10.1029/2023EA002906

 

More about the KIT Climate and Environment Center

 

Being “The Research University in the Helmholtz Association”, KIT creates and imparts knowledge for the society and the environment. It is the objective to make significant contributions to the global challenges in the fields of energy, mobility, and information. For this, about 9,800 employees cooperate in a broad range of disciplines in natural sciences, engineering sciences, economics, and the humanities and social sciences. KIT prepares its 22,300 students for responsible tasks in society, industry, and science by offering research-based study programs. Innovation efforts at KIT build a bridge between important scientific findings and their application for the benefit of society, economic prosperity, and the preservation of our natural basis of life. KIT is one of the German universities of excellence.

---

JOURNAL

Earth and Space Science

DOI

10.1029/2023EA002906 

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

spateGAN: Spatio-Temporal Downscaling of Rainfall Fields Using a cGAN Approach

 

The shape of dogs' heads affects their sleep

Flat-faced dogs' popularity comes at a high cost in terms of health: shortened skulls are associated with deteriorative brain morphology changes, breathing difficulties and sleep problems.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

EÖTVÖS LORÁND UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: 

FLAT-FACED DOG BREEDS ARE POPULAR ALL OVER THE WORLD. IN THE USA AND IN HUNGARY, THE FRENCH BULLDOG IS CURRENTLY THE MOST COMMON BREED. HOWEVER, THEIR POPULARITY COMES AT A HIGH COST IN TERMS OF HEALTH: SHORTENED SKULLS ARE ASSOCIATED WITH DETERIORATIVE BRAIN MORPHOLOGY CHANGES, BREATHING DIFFICULTIES AND SLEEP PROBLEMS. ACCORDING TO RECENT findings BY HUNGARIAN RESEARCHERS, FLAT-FACED DOGS SLEEP MORE BECAUSE THEIR BREED-SPECIFIC SLEEP APNEA INCREASES DAYTIME SLEEPINESS, THEIR REM SLEEP PHASE IS LONGER THAN NON-REM SLEEP, AND THEIR SLEEP EEG PATTERNS SHOW SIGNS OF WHITE MATTER LOSS.

view more 

CREDIT: PHOTO: ENIKŐ KUBINYI

Flat-faced dog breeds are popular all over the world. In the USA and in Hungary, the French Bulldog is currently the most common breed. However, their popularity comes at a high cost in terms of health: shortened skulls are associated with deteriorative brain morphology changes, breathing difficulties and sleep problems. According to recent findings by Hungarian researchers, flat-faced dogs sleep more because their breed-specific sleep apnea increases daytime sleepiness, their REM sleep phase is longer than non-REM sleep, and their sleep EEG patterns show signs of white matter loss.

Despite being a health hazard, the large, round head may be an attractive dog feature for many people. Extremely flat-faced dogs, such as French and English bulldogs and pugs, live on average 3 to 4 years less than other dogs and often do not live to adulthood. Even in their short lives, they suffer from many ailments and undergo surgery to correct musculoskeletal, eye and respiratory problems. The abnormal shortening of the skull is also associated with a distorted, rounded brain, but it is not yet known how this affects neural functioning.

Hungarian researchers studied the sleep of 92 family dogs using EEG. "In the sleep lab, dogs spend about three hours with their owners. As nothing exciting happens, the dogs fall asleep quickly. Meanwhile, we conduct the electrical potential generated by the brain activity with electrodes glued to their scalps," says Anna Kis, a pioneer in the study of sleeping dogs and a researcher at the HUN-REN Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology.

"We wanted to investigate whether flat-faced dogs sleep differently from other dogs, as they are known to suffer from oxygen deprivation due to respiratory problems and therefore have poorer quality sleep. We found that the

flat-faced dogs slept more in the three hours given to them during the study. More daytime sleep is probably compensation for insufficient sleep at night.

But, when we studied the EEG patterns, we got more exciting results than that," continues Zsófia Bognár, a PhD student who has been researching breeds of dogs with shorter noses, scientifically known as brachycephalic dogs, for many years.

When studying cognitive functions, special attention is devoted to the REM phase during sleep, also known as paradoxical sleep, because of high frequency brain activity similar to wakefulness accompanied by muscle atonia. For example, it is known from previous research that the amplitude of beta and delta brain waves (measured via EEG) during REM sleep is associated with learning success in dogs and intelligence in humans.

"In the present study, we found that brachycephalic dogs had decreased beta waves and increased delta compared to dogs with longer noses. The frequency of sleep spindles increased. This pattern has previously been associated with poorer learning in dogs and loss of white matter in humans," says Ivaylo Iotchev, first author of the study published in the journal Brain Structure and Function.

"There may be several reasons for our results. The most interesting of these is that it seems as if the flat-faced dogs have retained the sleep pattern of puppyhood, similarly to newborns who spend more time in REM sleep.

It is widely assumed that brachycephalic dogs are selected for infant-like traits.

They have large heads and eyes, high foreheads and small noses because we humans find these traits irresistibly attractive. That's how babies get us to care for them. It is possible that the selection of dogs to be infant-like in appearance has also infantilized their brain function," says Enikő Kubinyi, professor and head of the MTA-ELTE Lendület “Momentum” Companion Animal Research Group and ELTE NAP Canine Brain Research Group. "But this is a bold assumption for now. What is very likely, however, is that breeding for brachycephalic heads leads to potentially harmful changes in brain function."

  

Flat-faced dog breeds are popular all over the world. In the USA and in Hungary, the French Bulldog is currently the most common breed. However, their popularity comes at a high cost in terms of health: shortened skulls are associated with deteriorative brain morphology changes, breathing difficulties and sleep problems. According to recent findings by Hungarian researchers, flat-faced dogs sleep more because their breed-specific sleep apnea increases daytime sleepiness, their REM sleep phase is longer than non-REM sleep, and their sleep EEG patterns show signs of white matter loss.

CREDIT

Photo: Oszkár Dániel Gáti

Flat-faced dog breeds are popular all over the world. In the USA and in Hungary, the French Bulldog is currently the most common breed. However, their popularity comes at a high cost in terms of health: shortened skulls are associated with deteriorative brain morphology changes, breathing difficulties and sleep problems. According to recent findings by Hungarian researchers, flat-faced dogs sleep more because their breed-specific sleep apnea increases daytime sleepiness, their REM sleep phase is longer than non-REM sleep, and their sleep EEG patterns show signs of white matter loss.

CREDIT

Photo: Enikő Kubinyi

Original paper: Iotchev, I.B., Bognár, Z., Tóth, K. et al. Sleep-physiological correlates of brachycephaly in dogs. Brain Struct Funct 228, 2125-2136 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-023-02706-y

---

JOURNAL

Brain Structure and Function

DOI

10.1007/s00429-023-02706-y 

ARTICLE TITLE

Sleep-physiological correlates of brachycephaly in dogs

 MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX

UTSA names Department of Defense leader David Brown as NSCC Executive Director

Business Announcement

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT SAN ANTONIO

 

IMAGE: 

THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT SAN ANTONIO TODAY ANNOUNCED THE SELECTION OF DAVID BROWN AS THE NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF ITS NATIONAL SECURITY COLLABORATION CENTER (NSCC) AND PROFESSOR OF PRACTICE. BROWN WILL JOIN UTSA WITH DECADES OF EXPERIENCE LEADING COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ECOSYSTEMS SUPPORTING U.S. NATIONAL DEFENSE STRATEGIES.

view more 

CREDIT: THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT SAN ANTONIO

The University of Texas at San Antonio today announced the selection of David Brown as the new executive director of its National Security Collaboration Center (NSCC) and professor of practice. Brown will join UTSA with decades of experience leading collaborative research and development ecosystems supporting U.S. national defense strategies.

Brown is a trusted, well-connected leader in civilian and military communities nationwide who has especially strong relationships within U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) organizations, laboratories and commands and has gained national recognition for his transformative leadership in federal research and development (R&D) initiatives and projects. He will join UTSA from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) where, as an employee of Battelle Memorial Institute, he served in senior defense program leadership, government affairs and laboratory strategy roles.

“As we continue to expand our knowledge enterprise and grow our R1 culture, the NSCC will play a critical role in realizing federal opportunities in research, workforce and economic development to elevate UTSA as a national security leader,” said UTSA President Taylor Eighmy. “Dave’s extensive experience, paired with his vision for the future of the NSCC, aligns exceptionally well with our strategic destination to become a great public research university. I look forward to collaborating with him and witnessing the center's evolution under his leadership.”

The NSCC is Texas’ largest hub for government, university and industry partners in national security. Members of the center advance research and innovation in forensics, visualization, cybersecurity, data analytics, post-quantum cryptography, attack and threat modeling and mitigation, machine learning and artificial intelligence, and software, hardware and platform integrity. Additional areas of collaboration include training and exercise evaluation, workforce development and educational opportunities for students and the broader military community.

At the same time, the NSCC provides experiential learning opportunities for UTSA students who are interested in national defense careers. This living laboratory is one of the ways that UTSA is developing a highly competitive talent pipeline that is well-prepared to solve society’s evolving security challenges.

“We’re excited to welcome Dr. Brown to UTSA as the NSCC’s newest leader. His broad experience developing new research areas of national importance creates an ideal foundation for developing opportunities for faculty, staff and students while advancing the NSCC’s mission,” said JoAnn Browning, UTSA interim vice president for research, economic development, and knowledge enterprise. “Under Dave’s leadership, we will continue to grow UTSA’s reputation nationally as a trusted research partner and a sandbox for innovative R&D solutions in cybersecurity and national defense.”

As the NSCC’s director, Brown will shape an enhanced strategy that aligns with UTSA’s recently refreshed strategic plan and is deeply connected with partners in the federal landscape. In collaboration with university leadership, he will extend the center’s educational and programmatic offerings, develop deeper and broader partnerships with innovators in the national defense sector, and further position UTSA as a prominent thought leader in national and international security.

San Antonio is home to the largest concentration of cybersecurity experts and industry leaders outside of Washington, D.C., which uniquely positions the city and UTSA to lead the nation in cybersecurity research and workforce and economic development.

“San Antonio’s rich history and unbounded future, paired with the drive and support of UTSA’s entrepreneurial spirit and Tier One culture, provide an exceptional foundation for the NSCC’s success,” said Brown. “I’m eager to join the NSCC to establish new partnerships that build upon the university’s cyber prominence, tackling the leading national security challenges of our time. Abundant opportunities lie ahead for UTSA and NSCC on this exciting journey.”

UTSA is one of the few universities to hold all three National Center of Excellence designations from the National Security Agency and Department of Homeland Security. It also houses the No. 1 cybersecurity program in the nation and is ranked for best academic support for an online cybersecurity degree by Intelligent.com.

Brown will begin his new role at UTSA on January 22, 2024.