Link between air pollution and coronavirus mortality in Italy could be possible

A group of scientists has found another small piece in the puzzle of understanding COVID-19. 

Looking for reasons why the mortality rate is up to 12% in the northern part of Italy and only approx. 4.5% in the rest of the country, they found a probable correlation between air pollution and mortality in two of the worst affected regions in northern Italy.

Date:April 6, 2020

Source: Aarhus University

The world has been hit hard by coronavirus, and health services and authorities everywhere are struggling to reduce the spread, combat the disease and protect the population. Nevertheless, the pandemic will cost lives throughout the world. An environmental researcher from Aarhus University has studied whether there could be a link between the high mortality rate seen in northern Italy, and the level of air pollution in the same region. The short answer is "yes possibly." The long answer is in the article below.

The outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoronaVirus2 had its source in the Wuhan Province in China in December 2019. Since then, the coronavirus has spread to the rest of the globe, and the world is now treating patients with the disease that follows virus infection: COVID-19. The course of the disease differs for patients the world over: many experience flu-like symptoms, while many others need hospital treatment for acute respiratory infection that, in some cases, leads to death.

However, what factors affect the course of the disease and the possibilities to combat COVID-19 remains unclear, as long as there is no medical treatment or vaccine. At the moment, there are more questions than answers, and researchers all over the world are therefore working to find new insights into the global pandemic.

At Aarhus University, the environmental scientist Dario Caro from the Department of Environmental Science, and two health researchers, prof. Bruno Frediani and Dr. Edoardo Conticini, from the University of Siena in Italy have found yet another small piece in the puzzle of understanding the deadly disease. They have focused on examining why the mortality rate is up to 12% in the northern part of Italy, while it is only approx. 4.5% in the rest of the country.

They have just published an article entitled "Can Atmospheric pollution be considered as a co-factor in the extremely high level of SARS-CoV-2 lethality in Northern Italy?," in which they demonstrate a probable correlation between air pollution and mortality in two of the worst affected regions in northern Italy: Lombardy and Emilia Romagna.

The research project has been published in the scientific journal Environmental Pollution.

"There are several factors affecting the course of patients' illness, and all over the world we're finding links and explanations of what is important. It's very important to stress that our results are not a counter-argument to the findings already made. At the moment, all new knowledge is valuable for science and the authorities, and I consider our work as a supplement to the pool of knowledge about the factors that are important for the course of patients' illness," says environmental scientist Dario Caro, and clarifies that there are a number of other factors that could possibly play a role in the Italian situation:

"Our considerations must not let us neglect other factors responsible of the high lethality recorded: important co-factors such as the elevated medium age of the Italian population, the wide differences among Italian regional health systems, ICUs capacity and how the infects and deaths has been reported have had a paramount role in the lethality of SARS-CoV-2, presumably also more than pollution itself," he explains.

Different datasets show a link

The two northern Italian regions are among the most air-polluted regions in Europe. The recently published article took its outset in data from the NASA Aura satellite, which has demonstrated very high levels of air pollution across precisely these two regions. The group compared these data with the so-called Air Quality Index; a measurement of air quality developed by the European Environment Agency. The index gathers data from several thousand measuring stations all over Europe, providing a geographical insight into the prevalence of a number of pollutant sources in the EU.

The figures speak for themselves. The population of the northern Italian regions lives in a higher level of air pollution, and this may lead to a number of complications for patients with COVID-19 in the regions, simply because their bodies may have already been weakened by the accumulated exposure to air pollution when they contract the disease.

Dario Caro explains that the situation in the Italian regions has been a challenge for several years, with high levels of air pollution that have accumulated over a long period of time in the population. It is therefore unlikely that there is any reason to imagine that people in Denmark are exposed to the same factors or the same levels of pollution as people in northern Italy, where the authorities have been trying to reduce pollution levels for many years.

"All over the world, we're seeing different approaches from countries' authorities, in countries' general public health outset and in the standards and readiness of different countries' national healthcare systems. But this doesn't explain the prevalence and mortality rates that we're seeing in northern Italy compared with the rest of Italy. This feeds hope that we may have found yet another factor in understanding the high mortality rate of the disease in northern Italy," says Dario Caro.


Story Source:
Materials provided by Aarhus University. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference:
Edoardo Conticini, Bruno Frediani, Dario Caro. Can atmospheric pollution be considered a co-factor in extremely high level of SARS-CoV-2 lethality in Northern Italy? Environmental Pollution, 2020; 114465 DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2020.114465

Aarhus University. "Link between air pollution and coronavirus mortality in Italy could be possible." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 6 April 2020. .

Oldest ever human genetic evidence clarifies dispute over our ancestors

Genetic information from an 800,000-year-old human fossil has been retrieved for the first time. The results shed light on one of the branching points in the human family tree, reaching much further back in time than previously possible.

Date:April 1, 2020

Source:University of Copenhagen The Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences

DNA illustration (stock image). Credit: © adimas / Adobe Stock

Genetic information from an 800,000-year-old human fossil has been retrieved for the first time. The results from the University of Copenhagen shed light on one of the branching points in the human family tree, reaching much further back in time than previously possible.

An important advancement in human evolution studies has been achieved after scientists retrieved the oldest human genetic data set from an 800,000-year-old tooth belonging to the hominin species Homo antecessor.

The findings by scientists from the University of Copenhagen (Denmark), in collaboration with colleagues from the CENIEH (National Research Center on Human Evolution) in Burgos, Spain, and other institutions, are published April 1st in Nature.

"Ancient protein analysis provides evidence for a close relationship between Homo antecessor, us (Homo sapiens), Neanderthals, and Denisovans. Our results support the idea that Homo antecessor was a sister group to the group containing Homo sapiens, Neanderthals, and Denisovans," says Frido Welker, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, and first author on the paper.

Reconstructing the human family tree

By using a technique called mass spectrometry, researchers sequenced ancient proteins from dental enamel, and confidently determined the position of Homo antecessor in the human family tree.

The new molecular method, palaeoproteomics, developed by researchers at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, enables scientists to retrieve molecular evidence to accurately reconstruct human evolution from further back in time than ever before.

The human and the chimpanzee lineages split from each other about 9-7 million years ago. Scientists have relentlessly aimed to better understand the evolutionary relations between our species and the others, all now extinct, in the human lineage.

"Much of what we know so far is based either on the results of ancient DNA analysis, or on observations of the shape and the physical structure of fossils. Because of the chemical degradation of DNA over time, the oldest human DNA retrieved so far is dated at no more than approximately 400,000 years," says Enrico Cappellini, Associate Professor at the Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, and leading author on the paper.

"Now, the analysis of ancient proteins with mass spectrometry, an approach commonly known as palaeoproteomics, allow us to overcome these limits," he adds.

Theories on human evolution

The fossils analyzed by the researchers were found by palaeoanthropologist José María Bermúdez de Castro and his team in 1994 in stratigraphic level TD6 from the Gran Dolina cave site, one of the archaeological and paleontological sites of the Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain.

Initial observations led to conclude that Homo antecessor was the last common ancestor to modern humans and Neanderthals, a conclusion based on the physical shape and appearance of the fossils. In the following years, the exact relation between Homo antecessor and other human groups, like ourselves and Neanderthals, has been discussed intensely among anthropologists.

Although the hypothesis that Homo antecessor could be the common ancestor of Neanderthals and modern humans is very difficult to fit into the evolutionary scenario of the genus Homo, new findings in TD6 and subsequent studies revealed several characters shared among the human species found in Atapuerca and the Neanderthals. In addition, new studies confirmed that the facial features of Homo antecessor are very similar to those of Homo sapiens and very different from those of the Neanderthals and their more recent ancestors.

"I am happy that the protein study provides evidence that the Homo antecessor species may be closely related to the last common ancestor of Homo sapiens, Neanderthals, and Denisovans. The features shared by Homo antecessor with these hominins clearly appeared much earlier than previously thought. Homo antecessor would therefore be a basal species of the emerging humanity formed by Neanderthals, Denisovans, and modern humans," adds José María Bermúdez de Castro, Scientific Co-director of the excavations in Atapuerca and co-corresponding author on the paper.

World class-expertise

Findings like these are made possible through an extensive collaboration between different research fields: from paleoanthropology to biochemistry, proteomics and population genomics.

Retrieval of ancient genetic material from the rarest fossil specimens requires top quality expertise and equipment. This is the reason behind the now ten-years-long strategic collaboration between Enrico Cappellini and Jesper Velgaard Olsen, Professor at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research, University of Copenhagen and co-author on the paper.

"This study is an exciting milestone in palaeoproteomics. Using state of the art mass spectrometry, we determine the sequence of amino acids within protein remains from Homo antecessor dental enamel. We can then compare the ancient protein sequences we 'read' to those of other hominins, for example Neanderthals and Homo sapiens, to determine how they are genetically related," says Jesper Velgaard Olsen.

"I really look forward to seeing what palaeoproteomics will reveal in the future," concludes Enrico Cappellini.

The study of human evolution by palaeoproteomics will continue in the next years through the recently established EU-funded "Palaeoproteomics to Unleash Studies on Human History (PUSHH)" Marie S. Curie European Training Network (ETN), led by Enrico Cappellini, and involving many of the co-authors on the paper.

The research is mainly funded by VILLUM FONDEN, the Novo Nordisk Foundation, and the Marie Sklowowska-Curie Actions Individual Fellowship and International Training Network programmes.

Story Source:
Materials provided by University of Copenhagen The Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences.

Journal Reference:
Frido Welker, Jazmín Ramos-Madrigal, Petra Gutenbrunner, Meaghan Mackie, Shivani Tiwary, Rosa Rakownikow Jersie-Christensen, Cristina Chiva, Marc R. Dickinson, Martin Kuhlwilm, Marc de Manuel, Pere Gelabert, María Martinón-Torres, Ann Margvelashvili, Juan Luis Arsuaga, Eudald Carbonell, Tomas Marques-Bonet, Kirsty Penkman, Eduard Sabidó, Jürgen Cox, Jesper V. Olsen, David Lordkipanidze, Fernando Racimo, Carles Lalueza-Fox, José María Bermúdez de Castro, Eske Willerslev, Enrico Cappellini. The dental proteome of Homo antecessor. Nature, 2020; DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2153-8

University of Copenhagen The Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences. "Oldest ever human genetic evidence clarifies dispute over our ancestors." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 1 April 2020.

When three species of human ancestor walked the Earth

Scientists share details of the most ancient fossil of Homo erectus known and discuss how these new findings are forcing us to rewrite a part of our species' evolutionary history.

Date:April 2, 2020

Source:Arizona State University

Homo erectus word cloud (stock image).Credit: © ibreakstock / Adobe Stock


An international team, including Arizona State University researcher Gary Schwartz, have unearthed the earliest known skull of Homo erectus, the first of our ancestors to be nearly human-like in their anatomy and aspects of their behavior.

Years of painstaking excavation at the fossil-rich site of Drimolen, nestled within the Cradle of Humankind (a UNESCO World Heritage site located just 40 kilometers or around 25 miles northwest of Johannesburg in South Africa), has resulted in the recovery of several new and important fossils. The skull, attributed to Homo erectus, is securely dated to be two million years old.

Published this week in Science, the international team of nearly 30 scientists from five countries shared details of this skull -- the most ancient fossil Homo erectus known -- and other fossils from this site and discuss how these new finds are forcing us to rewrite a part of our species' evolutionary history.

The high-resolution dating of Drimolen's fossil deposits demonstrates the age of the new skull to pre-date Homo erectus specimens from other sites within and outside of Africa by at least 100,000 to 200,000 years and thus confirms an African origin for the species.

The skull, reconstructed from more than 150 separate fragments, is of an individual likely aged between three and six years old, giving scientists a rare glimpse into childhood growth and development in these early human ancestors.

Additional fossils recovered from Drimolen belong to a different species -- in fact, a different genus of ancient human altogether -- the more heavily built, robust human ancestor Paranthropus robustus, known to also occur at several nearby cave sites preserving fossils of the same geological age. A third, distinctive species, Australopithecus sediba, is known from two-million-year old deposits of an ancient cave site virtually down the road from Drimolen.

"Unlike the situation today, where we are the only human species, two million years ago our direct ancestor was not alone," said project director and lead researcher from La Trobe University in Australia, Andy Herries.

Gary Schwartz, a paleoanthropologist and research associate with ASU's Institute of Human Origins, participated in the excavations and recovery of the new cranium, and as an expert in the evolution of growth and development, is continuing his work with the research team to analyze the many infant and juvenile specimens found at the site.

"What is really exciting is the discovery that during this same narrow time slice, at just around two million years ago, there were three very different types of ancient human ancestors roaming the same small landscape," said Schwartz.

"We don't yet know whether they interacted directly, but their presence raises the possibility that these ancient fossil humans evolved strategies to divvy up the landscape and its resources in some way to enable them to live in such close proximity." Schwartz is also an Associate Professor in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change.

The ability to date Drimolen's ancient cave deposits with such a high degree of precision, using a range of different dating techniques, allowed the team to address important broader questions about human evolution in this region of Africa.

Paper coauthor Justin Adams from Monash University (Australia) is a specialist in reconstructing paleohabitats based on the animals preserved at fossil sites, said the discovery now allows us to address what role changing habitats, resources, and the unique biological adaptations of early Homo erectus may have played in the eventual extinction of Australopithecus sediba in South Africa.

"The discovery of the earliest Homo erectus marks a milestone for South African fossil heritage," says project codirector and University of Johannesburg doctoral student Stephanie Baker.

Fieldwork will continue at Drimolen, expanding the excavations to include even more ancient components of the cave and to provide a more in-depth glimpse at the forces shaping human evolution in this part of the African continent.

The bulk of this research was funded by Australian Research Council Future Fellowship Grant FT120100399 and ARC Discovery Grant DP170100056. The U-Pb analysis was funded by ARC DECRA DE120102504. The US-ESR dating was supported by ARC DP140100919. 

Work at the site by the Italian Archaeological Mission was supported by a series of grants by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs thanks the National Research Foundation (African Origins Platform) for grants that supported the excavation and research at Drimolen. 

This work was also supported by a La Trobe University Postgraduate Research Scholarship and La Trobe University Internal Research grant and a Society of Antiquaries London research grant. Components of the palaeomagnetic work were conducted during a Visiting Research Fellowship at the Institute for Rock Magnetism, University of Minnesota, supported through the National Science Foundation, USA.

Story Source:
Materials provided by Arizona State University. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Related Multimedia:
Image of 3D laser scan of Drimolen main quarry

Journal Reference:
Andy I. R. Herries, Jesse M. Martin, A. B. Leece, Justin W. Adams, Giovanni Boschian, Renaud Joannes-Boyau, Tara R. Edwards, Tom Mallett, Jason Massey, Ashleigh Murszewski, Simon Neubauer, Robyn Pickering, David S. Strait, Brian J. Armstrong, Stephanie Baker, Matthew V. Caruana, Tim Denham, John Hellstrom, Jacopo Moggi-Cecchi, Simon Mokobane, Paul Penzo-Kajewski, Douglass S. Rovinsky, Gary T. Schwartz, Rhiannon C. Stammers, Coen Wilson, Jon Woodhead, Colin Menter. Contemporaneity of Australopithecus, Paranthropus, and early Homo erectus in South Africa. Science, 2020; 368 (6486): eaaw7293 DOI: 10.1126/science.aaw7293

Arizona State University. "When three species of human ancestor walked the Earth." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 2 April 2020 .

Archaeologists on a 5,000-year-old egg hunt
Research reveals surprising complexity of ancient ostrich egg trade 

Date:April 8, 2020 

Source:University of Bristol 

Summary:

Scientists are closer to cracking a 5,000-year-old mystery surrounding the ancient trade and production of decorated ostrich eggs.

 Long before Fabergé, ornate ostrich eggs were highly prized by the elites of Mediterranean civilizations during the Bronze and Iron Ages, but to date little has been known about the complex supply chain behind these luxury goods


Ostrich with eggs (stock image).Credit: © Hummingbird Art / Adobe Stock

An international team of specialists, led by the University of Bristol, is closer to cracking a 5,000-year-old mystery surrounding the ancient trade and production of decorated ostrich eggs.

Long before Fabergé, ornate ostrich eggs were highly prized by the elites of Mediterranean civilisations during the Bronze and Iron Ages, but to date little has been known about the complex supply chain behind these luxury goods.

Examining ostrich eggs from the British Museum's collection, the team, led by Bristol's Dr Tamar Hodos, were able to reveal secrets about their origin and how and where they were made. Using state-of-the-art scanning electron microscopy, Dr Caroline Cartwright, Senior Scientist at the British Museum was able to investigate the eggs' chemical makeup to pinpoint their origins and study minute marks that reveal how they were made.

In the study, published today in the journal Antiquity, the researchers describe for the first time the surprisingly complex system behind ostrich egg production. This includes evidence about where the ostrich eggs were sourced, if the ostriches were captive or wild, and how the manufacture methods can be related to techniques and materials used by artisans in specific areas.

"The entire system of decorated ostrich egg production was much more complicated than we had imagined! We also found evidence to suggest the ancient world was much more interconnected than previously thought," said Dr Hodos, Reader in Mediterranean Archaeology in Bristol's School of Arts.

"Mediterranean ostriches were indigenous to the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa. Using a variety of isotopic indicators, we were able to distinguish eggs laid in different climatic zones (cooler, wetter and hotter, drier). What was most surprising to us was that eggs from both zones were found at sites in the other zone, suggestive of more extensive trade routes."

Dr Hodos and colleagues believe eggs were taken from wild birds' nests despite evidence of ostriches being kept in captivity during this period. This was no ordinary egg-hunt -- ostriches can be extremely dangerous so there was a tremendous risk involved in taking eggs from wild birds.

"We also found eggs require time to dry before the shell can be carved and therefore require safe storage. This has economic implications, since storage necessitates a long-term investment and this, combined with the risk involved, would add to an egg's luxury value," said Dr Hodos.

The study is part of an ongoing research project into ancient luxury goods, Globalising Luxuries.

Dr Hodos explains: "We are assessing not only how ancient luxuries were produced but also how they were used by different peoples. These questions are incredibly important for our own society today, in which the same object may have different social or symbolic meanings for different groups. Such knowledge and understanding helps foster tolerance and mutual respect in a multi-cultural society. If we can understand these mechanisms in the past, for which we have long-term outcomes in terms of social development, we can use this knowledge to better inform our own society in a number of ways."

Dr Caroline Cartwright, Senior Scientist, Department of Scientific Research, British Museum, said:

"The British Museum is delighted to collaborate with colleagues at the universities of Bristol and Durham on this ongoing research. Using state-of-the-art scanning electron microscope facilities in the British Museum's Department of Scientific Research, our experts were able to study these beautiful objects and cast new light on their significance in history. We look forward to continuing to work with university partners and furthering the knowledge and understanding of the Museum's collection."


Story Source:
Materials provided by University of Bristol. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Related Multimedia:
Images of ancient decorated ostrich eggs

Journal Reference:
Tamar Hodos, Caroline R. Cartwright, Janet Montgomery, Geoff Nowell, Kayla Crowder, Alexandra C. Fletcher, Yvonne Gönster. The origins of decorated ostrich eggs in the ancient Mediterranean and Middle East. Antiquity, 2020; 1 DOI: 10.15184/aqy.2020.14

University of Bristol. "Archaeologists on a 5,000-year-old egg hunt: Research reveals surprising complexity of ancient ostrich egg trade." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 8 April 2020. 

SEE 
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/04/our-ancestors-swapped-pieces-of-ostrich.html

Synchrotron X-ray sheds light on some of the world's oldest dinosaur eggs

Dinosaur 'Easter eggs' reveal their secrets in 3D thanks to X-rays and high-powered computers

Date:April 9, 2020

Source:European Synchrotron Radiation Facility

Summary:Scientists have reconstructed the skulls of some of the world's oldest known dinosaur embryos in 3D, using powerful and non-destructive synchrotron techniques. They found that the skulls develop in the same order as those of today's crocodiles, chickens, turtles and lizards.Share:

FULL STORY

Dinosaur egg concept (stock image).
Credit: © Esa Riutta / Adobe Stock

An international team of scientists led by the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, has been able to reconstruct, in the smallest details, the skulls of some of the world's oldest known dinosaur embryos in 3D, using powerful and non-destructive synchrotron techniques at the ESRF, the European Synchrotron in France. They found that the skulls develop in the same order as those of today's crocodiles, chickens, turtles and lizards. The findings are published today in Scientific Reports.


University of the Witwatersrand scientists publish 3D reconstructions of the ~2cm-long skulls of some of the world's oldest dinosaur embryos in an article in Scientific Reports. The embryos, found in 1976 in Golden Gate Highlands National Park (Free State Province, South Africa) belong to South Africa's iconic dinosaur Massospondylus carinatus, a 5-meter long herbivore that nested in the Free State region 200 million years ago.

The scientific usefulness of the embryos was previously limited by their extremely fragile nature and tiny size. In 2015, scientists Kimi Chapelle and Jonah Choiniere, from the University of Witwatersrand, brought them to the European Synchrotron (ESRF) in Grenoble, France for scanning. At the ESRF, an 844 metre-ring of electrons travelling at the speed of light emits high-powered X-ray beams that can be used to non-destructively scan matter, including fossils. The embryos were scanned at an unprecedented level of detail -- at the resolution of an individual bone cell. With these data in hand, and after nearly 3 years of data processing at Wits' laboratory, the team was able to reconstruct a 3D model of the baby dinosaur skull. "No lab CT scanner in the world can generate these kinds of data," said Vincent Fernandez, one of the co-authors and scientist at the Natural History Museum in London (UK). "Only with a huge facility like the ESRF can we unlock the hidden potential of our most exciting fossils. This research is a great example of a global collaboration between Europe and the South African National Research Foundation," he adds.

Up until now, it was believed that the embryos in those eggs had died just before hatching. However, during the study, lead author Chapelle noticed similarities with the developing embryos of living dinosaur relatives (crocodiles, chickens, turtles, and lizards). By comparing which bones of the skull were present at different stages of their embryonic development, Chapelle and co-authors can now show that the Massospondylus embryos were actually much younger than previously thought and were only at 60% through their incubation period.

The team also found that each embryo had two types of teeth preserved in its developing jaws. One set was made up of very simple triangular teeth that would have been resorbed or shed before hatching, just like geckos and crocodiles today. The second set were very similar to those of adults, and would be the ones that the embryos hatched with. "I was really surprised to find that these embryos not only had teeth, but had two types of teeth. The teeth are so tiny; they range from 0.4 to 0.7mm wide. That's smaller than the tip of a toothpick!," explains Chapelle.

The conclusion of this research is that dinosaurs developed in the egg just like their reptilian relatives, whose embryonic developmental pattern hasn't changed in 200 million years. "It's incredible that in more than 250 million years of reptile evolution, the way the skull develops in the egg remains more or less the same. Goes to show -- you don't mess with a good thing!," concludes Jonah Choiniere, professor at the University of Witwatersrand and also co-author of the study.

The team hopes to apply their method to other dinosaur embryos to estimate their level of development. They will be looking at the rest of the skeleton of the Massospondylus embryos to see if it also shares similarities in development with today's dinosaur relatives. The arms and legs of the Massospondylus embryos have already been used to show that hatchlings likely walked on two legs.

Main findings:

High powered X-rays were used to reconstruct the skulls of some of the world's oldest known dinosaur embryos.

The skull could be seen in 3D at an unprecedented level of detail.

Dinosaur embryo skulls appear to develop in the same order as those of today's crocodiles, chickens, turtles and lizards.

These dinosaur embryos appear to have been fossilised at approximately 60% through their incubation period. This is much earlier than previously thought.

The dinosaur embryos have two types of teeth that range in size from 0.4 to 0.7mm wide. 

One of these sets would have been shed or resorbed before hatching.

Story Source:

Materials provided by European Synchrotron Radiation Facility. 
Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Related Multimedia:
YouTube video: Synchrotron X-ray sheds light on some of the world's oldest dinosaur eggs

Journal References:
Kimberley E. J. Chapelle, Vincent Fernandez, Jonah N. Choiniere. Conserved in-ovo cranial ossification sequences of extant saurians allow estimation of embryonic dinosaur developmental stages. Scientific Reports, 2020; 10 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-60292-z
Kimberley E. J. Chapelle, Roger B. J. Benson, Josef Stiegler, Alejandro Otero, Qi Zhao, Jonah N. Choiniere. A quantitative method for inferring locomotory shifts in amniotes during ontogeny, its application to dinosaurs and its bearing on the evolution of posture. Palaeontology, 2020; 63 (2): 229 DOI: 10.1111/pala.12451


European Synchrotron Radiation Facility. "Synchrotron X-ray sheds light on some of the world's oldest dinosaur eggs: Dinosaur 'Easter eggs' reveal their secrets in 3D thanks to X-rays and high-powered computers."  ScienceDaily, 9 April 2020

Can those who survive COVID-19 provide blood to treat others hospitalized by the disease?

That’s the question driving a Canadian consortium that has launched one of the world’s largest clinical trials of a potential treatment for COVID-19 —one that goes as far back as the Spanish flu a century ago.

Image credit: Pixabay (Free Pixabay license)

The treatment involves taking blood plasma — which contains antibodies — from people who have recovered from COVID-19 infection, and giving it to patients who are sick enough to be hospitalized with the same disease.

The proposed Convalescent Plasma for COVID-19 Research (CONCOR) trial is a collaboration between the Canadian Transfusion Research Network, the McMaster Centre for Transfusion Research, Canadian Blood Services, Héma-Québec and academic partners across the country.

The study is expected to be carried out in every province, and likely each territory. The initial number of people involved is approximately 1,000 patients.

McMaster University professor and hematologist Donald Arnold is leading the trial in conjunction with Philippe Bégin of the University of Montreal and Jeannie Callum of the University of Toronto.

“When people have recovered from COVID-19 infection, we are hoping they will donate a unit of plasma which is essentially the clear portion of blood where all the antibodies are,” said Arnold, an associate professor of medicine and the director of the McMaster Centre for Transfusion Research.

“Presumably those antibodies helped them fight off their COVID-19 infection and allowed them to get better.

The theory is that if you put those antibodies into people who have acute COVID-19 and are in hospital, they may benefit from those antibodies as well.”

The research team’s primary focus is on how the therapy cuts the number of deaths. They will also track a number of other important indicators such as intensive care unit admissions, need for mechanical ventilation, length of stay in hospital or ICU, and side effects from the plasma treatment.

The treatment, called convalescent plasma therapy, has been used during other pandemics, including the Spanish flu of 1918 to 1920.

More recent studies of the use of this treatment during SARS and MERS suggest improved outcomes, but the available evidence is based on low-quality evidence from non-randomized studies.

Arnold notes that within the past week, a publication from China described how convalescent plasma was used to treat COVID-19 patients in intensive care and they recovered, but it was only five patients.

“While there have been reports of people trying this with some success, all of these involved only handfuls of patients and that is all we have to go on,” he said. “We really don’t know if this is truly an effective therapy.”

There are still hurdles before the study can officially commence, including working with the national blood suppliers Canadian Blood Services and Héma-Québec to produce the product.

Arnold hopes for a start date within the next few weeks. Once started, results could be shared, ideally, in three or four months, but more realistically in six to 10 months.

“We’re talking about a clinical trial that would normally take at least six to 12 months to set up,” he says. “We’ve worked out the groundwork in about five days with a national team of committed scientists and physicians.”

Critical to the study’s success is the willingness of Canadians who have recovered from COVID-19 to donate plasma, Arnold says.

“The trial will only succeed if recovering COVID-19 patients are willing to donate their plasma when the time comes,” he said. “There’s a lot of goodwill out there, but this is really pivotal to the trial being successful.”

Arnold said the dedication and commitment demonstrated by partner organizations and academic institutions including the universities of Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and British Columbia.

“The most incredible thing about this initiative is how people have come together in such a short period of time with everyone ready to sign on and help in various ways,” he said.

“In only a few days, a wonderful group of top-notch experts across the country has been assembled and they have worked tirelessly to develop this proposal.”

Written by Tina Depko Source: McMaster University

Possible COVID-19 treatment: transfusion of antibodies from recovered patients’ blood

Century-old idea applied to modern pandemic

By Tamara Bhandari March 23, 2020

A laboratory worker removes plasma from a vial of blood. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and elsewhere are investigating whether transfusions of blood plasma from people who have recovered from COVID-19 can prevent or treat the disease. The approach was used with some success during the 1918 influenza pandemic. (Photo: Getty Images)
With no drugs or vaccines yet approved for COVID-19 and the number of U.S. cases increasing by the thousands every day, doctors are looking to revive a century-old therapy for infectious diseases: transfusing antibodies from the blood of recovered patients into people who are seriously ill.

During the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, doctors were faced with a deadly illness and no specific treatments. Recognizing that people who had recovered were immune to the infection, some doctors tried treating their patients with blood serum from recovered flu patients. In many cases it worked.

“Giving serum from newly recovered patients is a stone-age approach, but historically it has worked,” said Jeffrey P. Henderson, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine and of molecular microbiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. “This is how we used to prevent and treat viral infections like measles, mumps, polio and influenza, but once vaccines were developed, the technique understandably fell out of favor and many people forgot about it. Until we have specific drugs and vaccines for COVID-19, this approach could save lives.”

Henderson was reminded of the technique by Arturo Casadevall, MD, PhD, the chair of molecular microbiology and immunology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore. Casadevall began championing the idea of using plasma from convalescing patients to treat COVID-19 in early March. Plasma and serum are both the clear fluid portion of blood, and both contain antibodies, but plasma also contains some other proteins lacking in serum.

Plasma transfusion was used experimentally to treat small numbers of people during the SARS outbreak of 2002 and 2003. SARS, which stands for severe acute respiratory syndrome, is caused by a coronavirus closely related to the one that causes COVID-19. In one study, SARS patients who received plasma transfusions recovered faster than those who did not.

Henderson, Casadevall and Michael Joyner, MD, a physiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., quickly joined forces and leveraged the resources at their three institutions to test the approach. Their efforts resulted in an investigational new drug application to the Food and Drug Administration that was filed March 18. If the application is approved, they plan to move rapidly to a clinical trial.

“This is something that can be done very quickly, much faster than drug development, because it basically involves donating and transfusing plasma,” Henderson said. “As soon as we have individuals who have recovered from COVID-19 walking around, we have potential donors, and we can use the blood bank system to obtain plasma and distribute it to the patients who need it.”

The plan is to ask patients who recover from COVID-19 to donate their blood, from which plasma would be isolated. After screening for toxins and viruses, the plasma would be transfused into people ill with or at high risk of COVID-19. The procedure for isolating plasma is a long-established technology that can be performed using equipment normally found in blood-banking facilities, and receiving plasma from these donors is as safe as any other plasma transfusion, Henderson said.

The concept is simple, but the execution is more complicated. The scientists still need to determine how much antibody is in the blood of recovered patients, and how much antibody needs to be given to effectively treat or prevent COVID-19. Brenda Grossman, MD, professor of pathology and immunology at Washington University School of Medicine and director of transfusion medicine at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, was brought on board to help navigate the complex regulations surrounding blood donations and transport of blood products across state lines.

The idea is catching fire.

“Last week, it was the three of us on a conference call,” Henderson said. “This week, we had people from all over the country — I don’t even know how many. Everyone’s excited about this. If it works, it could provide a lifeline at this early stage of the pandemic.”

---30--- 

NASA data reveals air pollution in northeast areas of the US have dropped by 30 percent as millions are under lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic

NASA satellite reveals a drop in nitrogen dioxide over the Northeast region

Millions are currently under some kind of lockdown due to the coronavirus

Images show a 30% drop last month compared to the same period in 2019

These are the lowest March levels NASA has seen since analyzing data in 2005

By STACY LIBERATORE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM PUBLISHED: 10 April 2020

Air pollution over the northeast region of the US has declined as millions living in the area are forced into lockdown to limit the spread of the coronavirus .

NASA satellite images show a 30 percent reduction in atmospheric nitrogen dioxide compared with the same period last year.

The pollution stems from the burning of fuel and emissions of vehicles and power plants, and because the lockdowns have closed businesses and left streets empty, air quality has improved

This is the lowest monthly levels of any March since the American space agency began recording such data in 2005.


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NASA satellite images show a 30 percent reduction in atmospheric nitrogen dioxide compared with the same period last year.

Every state in the northeast has been impacted by the coronavirus in some way.

Most are under lockdown, while the rest are being advised to stay home in order to limit spreading the virus.

Nearly every state in the US has been infected, but the northeast areas are feeling the brunt of it.

New York City has been deemed the ‘epicenter’ in the country, with New Jersey following behind with the second amount of deaths.

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center released data captured by its Aura satellite that shows the difference in nitrogen dioxide levels. New York City (pictured) has also seen a 50% decline in carbon monoxide levels

The 30 percent decline includes the region of the I-95 corridor from Washington, DC to Boston (pictured)

However, as millions are forced to remain inside, the air pollution has dropped.

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center released data captured by its Aura satellite that shows the difference in nitrogen dioxide levels.

The organization did a comparison with an image showing the average concentration in March 2015 through 2019 and another from last month.

‘Though variations in weather from year to year cause variations in the monthly means for individual years, March 2020 shows the lowest monthly atmospheric nitrogen dioxide levels of any March during the OMI data record, which spans 2005 to the present.’ NASA shared in a statement.

The 30 percent decline includes the region of the I-95 corridor from Washington, DC to Boston.

Nitrogen dioxide is known to increase respiratory problems, as it inflames the lining of the lungs and reduces the person’s ability to fight off lung infections.

It also causes wheezing, coughing, colds, flu and bronchitis, and is linked to asthma.

Also experiencing a decline since the coronavirus made landfall in the US are other major metropolitan areas such as Seattle, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago and New York City.

California was the first to implement a stay-at-home policy earlier this month, with Governor Gavin Newsom deeming socializing outside of the home a crime until further notice.

The state's drop in nitrogen dioxide began shortly after the policy went into effect, with Los Angeles, a pollution hub, experiencing the largest decrease.

The Bay Area and San Diego have also witnessed an improvement in their air quality.

California's drop in nitrogen dioxide began shortly after the policy went into effect, with Los Angeles (pictured), a pollution hub, experiencing the largest decrease
Nearly every state in the US has been infected, but the northeast areas are feeling the brunt of it. New York City has been deemed the ‘epicenter’ in the country, with New Jersey following behind with the second amount of deaths

In New York City, all nonessential gatherings of any size are temporarily banned and many businesses have been forced to suspend their operations.

The Big Apple has been deemed a hotspot of the virus and although it does not rely heavily on automobile traffic like Los Angles, New York City has also seen a drop in air pollution since the lockdown began.

Researchers at Columbia University have seen emissions of carbon monoxide over New York City decline more than 50 percent below typical levels over the past week.

Levels of carbon dioxide have dropped by up to 10 percent and methane have also fallen 'significantly', according to the Colombia team.



WHAT IS SOCIAL DISTANCING?

Social distancing is a term used by health authorities to help slow the spread of coronavirus by keeping an appropriate distance between people.

Australian health authorities recommend at least 1.5 metres between each person at all times.

Social distancing of 1.5 meters (5 feet) might not really be ...

https://www.zmescience.com › Science

3 days ago - Social distancing of 1.5 meters (5 feet) might not really be enough — especially when running or biking. The evidence is not clear yet, but it ...

This is because coronavirus can be transmitted by:
Coughing
Sneezing
Being in the same space for a long period
Touching the same surface



Social distancing also refers to limiting physical contact with each other as much as possible which has led to authorities encouraging people to work from home, avoid crowded spaces and public transport as much as possible.

Source: Australian Department of Health


NASA data shows air pollution in northeast areas of the US dropped 30 percent amid the coronavirus

GOOD NEWS
Covid-19 pandemic gives ‘anti-vaxxers’ pause


Issued on: 11/04/2020 

A boy attends a protest by anti-vaccination activists in Kiev, Ukraine, 
August 22, 2019. The banner reads: "My baby is my responsibility".
 © Gleb Garanich, Reuters

Text by:NEWS WIRES

While some anti-vaccination advocates are gearing up for a fight against any potential new vaccine, others are growing frustrated at fellow anti-vaxxers’ downplaying of the pandemic.

An American mother-of-three is a long-time member of “anti-vaxxer” groups online: a small but vocal global community that believes vaccines are a dangerous con and refuse to immunize themselves or their children.

But Covid-19 is shaking her views. The woman who would identify herself only as Stephanie, citing a fear of reprisals from committed anti-vaxxers, says she is now 50:50 on taking a vaccine should one be discovered for the respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus.

“I’ve definitely thought about it,” she told Reuters by phone from the United States, also expressing frustration at what she considers the anti-vax community’s downplaying of the pandemic’s seriousness. “We’re all being affected by this virus, schools closing, young people in hospital, and they still say it’s a hoax.”

As the world’s scientists and pharmaceutical companies seek a cure for the coronavirus, other anti-vaxxers are gearing up for a fight against any potential new vaccine.

“Refuse, demonstrate,” said a Briton on Facebook in response to a post asking people how they would react if a vaccine was made mandatory.

But some virologists say the quest for a vaccine is so widely supported that resistance will be eroded.

The latest national surveys by pollster ORB International for the Vaccine Confidence Project (VCP), which monitors attitudes to immunisation, appear to support this idea.

In France, where a 2018 poll showed one in three people did not view vaccines as safe, just 18% would refuse a coronavirus vaccine now, according to the VCP poll of around 1,000 people on March 18, a day after France locked down.

In Australia, the VCP’s figure was also 7%, while Britain, where about 2,000 people were polled, and Austria registered 5% opposition in polls there a week later.

“If a vaccine were made available tomorrow, everyone would jump to get it,” said Laurent-Henri Vignaud, who co-authored a history of France’s anti-vax movement.

That view was challenged by Mary Holland, vice-chair of American non-profit group Children’s Health Defense, which is critical of vaccination in the United States.

“I don’t think this virus fundamentally changes people’s deeply held concerns about vaccines,” she told Reuters.

“I will not be injected with anything”

Although the term “anti-vax” is sometimes associated with conspiracy theories, many people are simply concerned about side-effects or industry ethics.

Globally, one person in five does not view vaccines as safe or is unsure, according to a 2018 survey by the Wellcome Trust health fund.

In China, where the Covid-19 disease caused by the novel coronavirus originated, surveys by VCP researchers show safety is an important cause of concern. Several scandals eroded trust, including in 2018 when a unit of China’s vaccine maker Changsheng Bio-technology Co Ltd was heavily fined for falsifying data for a rabies vaccine. The company said it was “deeply sorry” for the incident.

Online discussions tracked by Reuters – including closed Facebook pages with more than 200,000 members, Twitter feeds such as the Children’s Health Defense and YouTube videos totalling over 700,000 views – showed considerable mistrust that a rushed vaccine would be improperly tested.

VCP director Heidi Larson said that was also the main reason for concern around the vaccine against the H1N1 swine flu pandemic in 2009.

A quickly produced swine flu vaccine in 1976 led to about one in 100,000 people developing Guillain-Barre syndrome, a paralyzing immune-system disorder, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Some 115 coronavirus vaccine candidates are being developed by institutes and drugmakers, according to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation, a global alliance financing and coordinating the development of vaccines.

“I will not be injected with anything, especially a fast-tracked vaccine,” added American Vicki Barneck, 67, who believes a strong immune system is enough to combat the disease.

Holland, of the Children’s Health Defense, said: “Some react fine to vaccines, others are paralysed or killed.”

However, a 2015 paper by CDC epidemiologists said “multiple studies and scientific reviews have found no association between vaccination and deaths except in rare cases.”

“Hungry for a vaccine”

The VCP is running an 18-month study tracking conversation online about the coronavirus and conducting global polls to measure attitudes towards social distancing, isolation, hand-washing and anticipating a vaccine.

From analysing more than 3 million posts a day between January and mid-March 2020, director Dr Heidi Larson said the vast majority were eager for a treatment, fast.

“People are hungry for a vaccine,” she said.

In Italy, which has been hit badly by Covid-19, the anti-vax movement has “virtually disappeared” in the discussion on the coronavirus, according to virologist Dr Roberto Burioni.

For a coronavirus vaccine to be effective, wide uptake and annual vaccination is likely to be required, said George Kassianos, immunisation lead at the Royal College of General Practitioners in London.

There is also the question of how to distribute fast enough to people lining up for the vaccine.

“Essential workers will be the priority. Police officers, hospital workers, cleaners. Then at-risk groups,” said Douglas L. Hatch, a physician specialised in pandemic preparedness working on the Covid-19 response in San Francisco.

“By the time you get to the anti-vaxxers, they’ll have trouble getting it even if they wanted to.”

(REUTERS)

Mercury-bound BepiColombo spacecraft brushes past Earth

A spacecraft bound for Mercury has swooped past the Earth in a maneuver to tweak its path to the solar system's innermost planet. 

SLING SHOT MANEUVER 

Scientists hope it will slow the probe down, to ensure it doesn't overshoot the target.


BepiColombo — a probe sent to discover more about the planet Mercury — swept past Earth on Friday in a flypast aimed at bending its path toward the center of the solar system.

A ground team at the European Space Agency's operations center (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany — reduced in number amid the coronavirus lockdown — monitored the operation.

Before leaving Earth's vicinity, BepiColombo beamed back black-and-white pictures of home.

The team sought to fine-tune the spacecraft's trajectory and speed, ensuring it doesn't overshoot the scorched planet, which lies just 60 million kilometers (37 million miles) from the sun.

The tug of gravity from Earth slowed the spacecraft down and fixed it more firmly on its path to the sun. It is the first of nine planet-based gravity assists aimed at guiding BepiColombo to its intended destination in one piece.

Read more: Why isn't Germany taking over the moon?
BECAUSE THAT WOULD CREATE EVEN MORE NAZI'S ON THE MOON MEMES

"Without these maneuvers, it would simply fly past Mercury," said ESOC head Paolo Ferri. "It has to brake."

The closest part of the approach — with the spacecraft some 12,700 kilometers away from Earth — occurred over the South Atlantic. Telescopes in Chile even caught a glimpse of the speeding probe.

One critical phase came soon after that as the probe flew into the earth's shadow, shielded from the sun for 34 minutes and being forced to rely on its batteries.

The mission is a joint project of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

The COVID-19 pandemic threat forced the team to work with minimal face-to-face interaction while ensuring all steps in the process were properly covered.

The spacecraft is carrying two scientific orbiters, and it should reach Mercury in 2025. It will swing past Venus twice — firstly in October — and six times past Mercury itself.

Scientists hope to learn more about the origin and composition of Mercury, the least explored of our solar system's four rocky planets. The planet is only a little bigger than our moon and circles the sun in just 88 days.

The probe is named after Italian mathematician and engineer Giuseppe ''Bepi'' Colombo, who devised the use of planetary flybys for approaches to Mercury. He died in 1984



BEPICOLOMBO SPACECRAFT LAUNCHES QUEST TO SURVEY MERCURY
Unstable and eccentric


Mercury is the smallest planet in our solar system and is closest to the Sun. Its orbit around the Sun is unstable, and is growing larger all the time because Jupiter is slowly pulling Mercury out of its orbit. At some point, this could see Mercury colliding with Earth. But fear not, that won't happen for many millions of years.

Toilet Tracker Analyzes Your Outputs

Researchers have created a tech that can track health markers -- all from the toilet seat.

Toilet.jpg

Image credits:

Pshevlotskyy Oleksandr/Shutterstock

TECHNOLOGY

Monday, April 6, 2020 - 12:15

Katharine Gammon, Contributor

    

(Inside Science) -- Analyzing urine and stool has long been an important tool in a doctor’s kit for diagnosing infections, diabetes and some cancers. Now, an international team of researchers are finding ways to integrate analysis of many markers of health -- including the flow and viscosity of, well, bodily functions -- into a smart toilet to give users a full picture of what’s coming out of them. The new report was published today in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering.

The researchers created fully automated chemical analyzers that can be mounted onto existing toilet systems. Three separate tracking systems work on urine analysis (using a test strip), urine flow (using computer vision) and stool analysis (using computer analysis of the density and a sensor to measure the duration of bowel movements). The prototype also tracks each user’s output using a fingerprint scan on the flush lever, as well as what they call an analprint scan. Who knew that each individual anus was unique in its folds and swirls? All the data could be sent to a to a cloud-based health portal for comparison over time. The system works for people using toilets both standing and sitting.

The idea is that precision health and continuous health monitoring relies on accurate, ongoing data to predict or detect illness, the researchers write. Wearable devices like movement trackers and heart monitors go a long way to provide data on each person, but these devices require people to consciously put them on -- unlike a smart toilet, which can provide data passively. They write that the system does have limitations -- for example it's not easy to ensure that the unit is sterilized after each use, which could lead to false readings, and it’s not yet compatible with squat toilets used widely around the world.

Still, the authors see a rosy future for a diagnostic lavatory.

“The toilet will ultimately function as the daily clinic for continuous monitoring of human excreta,” they write, “feeding data into models of human health that can be used for screening and subsequent diagnostics.”

SEE 
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/04/smart-toilet-monitors-for-signs-of.html