SPEAKING OF SNAKE OIL

Hydroxychloroquine, remdesivir fail to improve COVID-19 outcomes in study



A new study found little benefits associated with the drugs hydroxychloroquine, pictured, or remdesivir, in patients with severe COVID-19. Photo by UPI

July 12 (UPI) -- Neither remdesivir nor hydroxychloroquine boosts recovery in patients hospitalized with COVID-19, according to the findings of a clinical trial led by the World Health Organization, and published Monday by the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Nearly 8% of patients treated with hydroxychloroquine and just over 7% of those given remdesivir died in the hospital, the data showed.

In comparison, between 4% and 7% of those who received "standard care" -- typically treatment with steroids and other drugs to reduce inflammation and manage respiratory symptoms -- died during their hospital stay, the researchers said.

Similarly, 10% of those given remdesivir and 15% of those who received hydroxychloroquine required mechanical ventilation to breathe, compared with 7% to 11% of those treated with standard care, they said.

"Despite the early emergence of reports that both remdesivir and hydroxychloroquine effectively exerted strong antiviral activities against [the coronavirus] ... our results show no antiviral effects of these drugs in hospitalized patients," the researchers, from Norway, wrote.

"Our findings question the antiviral potential of these drugs in hospitalized patients with COVID-19," they said.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved remdesivir, an antiviral drug originally developed to treat the Ebola virus, for use in people hospitalized due to severe COVID-19 in October.

Since then, though, the drug has produced mixed results in clinical trials, and the WHO recommended against its use in November.

The agency issued the recommendation after initial results from its 30-country "Solidarity" study found that its use has no significant impact on mortality, length of hospital stay or need for ventilation among hospitalized patients.

The malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, meanwhile, was touted as a potential COVID-19 cure by then-President Trump and others early in the pandemic, despite the lack of clinical trial data suggesting that it is any more effective than placebo, or a fake treatment, at promoting recovery.

For this study, researchers from Oslo University Hospital in Norway and 22 other facilities randomly assigned 181 hospitalized patients to receive remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine or standard care.

Study participants accounted for nearly one-fourth of all people hospitalized due to the virus in Norway between March 28 and Oct. 4 of last year.

There were no significant differences between treatment groups in terms of rates of death during hospitalization, the data showed.

Remdesivir and hydroxychloroquine did not affect the degree of respiratory failure or inflammation among patients given the drugs, compared with those who received standard care, the researchers said.

In addition, patients in all three groups had similar decreases in viral load, or the levels of virus, in the nose and throat during the first week of treatment as well as at 10 days.

The lack of antiviral effect with remdesivir and hydroxychloroquine remained consistent across patients of different ages as well as those with distinct symptom duration, viral loads and levels of antibodies, or cells produced by the immune system to fight off viruses, according to the researchers.

"The overall lack of effect of remdesivir and hydroxychloroquine on the clinical course of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 was accompanied by a paucity of effect on ... viral clearance in the [nose and throat]," they wrote.

WITH NO VACCINE RELYING ON SNAKE OIL

North Korea to increase production of traditional medicines, state media says

THEY COULD ASK CHINA OR RUSSIA



North Korea’s state media said Tuesday domestically developed remedies are to be produced in greater quantities. File Photo by How Hwee Young

July 13 (UPI) -- North Korea plans to ramp up production of traditional herbal remedies, state media said.

Korean Workers' Party newspaper Rodong Sinmun reported Tuesday that the production of traditional Korean medicine is a "very important" task for the regime to "make the people aware of the superiority of the socialist system."

The paper also said that at the Third Plenary Meeting of the Eighth Central Committee of the Party in June, a decision was made to produce "highly efficient Korean medicines at various Korean medicine production bases."

"Now is the time for all workers and employees in the Korean medicine sector to become more conscious of the Party and the people's expectations for the development of the health industry," the Rodong said.

"They should double efforts to increase the efficacy of drugs and increase the production of medicines."

North Korea previously touted the effectiveness of Korean medicines. In February, the Rodong said traditional remedies could be used to cure "respiratory diseases" that occur in winter.

In 2015, during South Korea's MERS epidemic, North Korea claimed its independently developed Kumdang No. 2 vaccine could prevent MERS, SARS, AIDS and pneumonia.

Pyongyang began to promote Kumdang No. 2 as a panacea in 2003, when the SARS epidemic was reported in Hong Kong and China. The vaccine again emerged as an antidote in 2006 and 2013, when cases of avian flu threatened global populations.

The North Korean vaccine was not mentioned Tuesday.

One shot of the Sputnik V vaccine triggers strong antibody responses

CELL PRESS

Research News

IMAGE: THIS GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT SHOWS ANTIBODY RESPONSES TO SPUTNIK V VACCINE IN ARGENTINA. ON THE TOP, SCHEMATIC REPRESENTATION OF THE TWO-COMPONENT ADENOVIRUS BASED VACCINE (RAD26 AND RAD5) SPUTNIK V. BOTTOM, IGG... view more 

CREDIT: ROSSI AND OJEDA ET AL./CELL REPORTS MEDICINE

A single dose of the Sputnik V vaccine may elicit significant antibody responses against SARS-CoV-2, finds a study published July 13 in the journal Cell Reports Medicine.

"Due to limited vaccine supply and uneven vaccine distribution in many regions of the world, health authorities urgently need data on the immune response to vaccines to optimize vaccination strategies," says senior author Andrea Gamarnik (@GamarnikLab) of the Fundación Instituto Leloir-CONICET in Buenos Aires, Argentina. "The peer-reviewed data we present provide information for guiding public health decisions in light of the current global health emergency."

Past research has shown that two doses of Sputnik V results in 92% efficacy against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is caused by SARS-CoV-2. An important question is whether a single dose would achieve greater public health benefit than two doses by allowing protection of a larger population more quickly.

Evidence from other vaccines offers support for the one-shot approach. The AstraZeneca vaccine shows 76% efficacy after a single dose, and the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines may induce sufficient immunity in previously infected individuals after one dose, with no apparent benefit of an additional dose.

In the Cell Reports Medicine study, Gamarnik and her colleagues compared the effects of one and two shots of Sputnik V on SARS-CoV-2-specific antibody responses in 289 healthcare workers in Argentina. Three weeks after the second dose, all volunteers with no prior infection generated virus-specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies - the most common type of antibody found in blood.

But even within three weeks of receiving the first dose, 94% of these participants developed IgG antibodies against the virus, and 90% showed evidence of neutralizing antibodies, which interfere with the ability of viruses to infect cells.

Additional results showed that IgG and neutralizing antibody levels in previously infected participants were significantly higher after one dose than those in fully vaccinated volunteers with no history of infection. A second dose did not increase the production of neutralizing antibodies in previously infected volunteers.

"This highlights the robust response to vaccination of previously infected individuals, suggesting that naturally acquired immunity might be enhanced sufficiently by a single dose, in agreement with recent studies using mRNA vaccines," Gamarnik says.

Further studies are needed to evaluate the duration of the immune response and to assess how antibody levels relate to vaccine protection against COVID-19. "Evidence based on quantitative information will guide vaccine deployment strategies in the face of worldwide vaccine supply restriction," Gamarnik says.

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This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIAID) and by the National Ministry of Science Technology and Innovation of Argentina.

Cell Reports Medicine, Rossi and Ojeda et al.: "Sputnik V Vaccine Elicits Seroconversion and Neutralizing Capacity to SARS-CoV-2 after a Single Dose" https://www.cell.com/cell-reports-medicine/fulltext/S2666-3791(21)00208-1

Cell Reports Medicine (@CellRepMed), published by Cell Press, is a new, monthly, premium open-access journal from Cell Press publishing cutting-edge research in translational and clinical biomedical sciences that inform and influence human health and medicine. Visit: https://www.cell.com/cell-reports-medicine/home. To receive Cell Press media alerts please contact press@cell.com.

Google trends, the COVID-19 vaccine and infertility misinformation

Researchers document a nearly 35,000% increase in COVID-19 vaccine and infertility Google searches following a misinformation event

AMERICAN OSTEOPATHIC ASSOCIATION

Research News

 

Google searches related to infertility and coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines increased by 34,900% after a pair of physicians submitted a petition questioning the safety and efficacy data of the COVID-19 Pfizer vaccine. Referencing the petition, anti-vaccine activists circulated claims that misconstrued the information regarding the possibility that the vaccine could impact fertility in women.

The inaccurately represented information spread rapidly on social media channels, potentially influencing public perception and decision-making among pregnant patients or those seeking to become pregnant, according to research published in the Journal of Osteopathic Medicine. This happened despite the fact that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the US Food and Drug Administration issued emergency use authorization for the vaccine, deeming the concerns in the petition insignificant.

"Misinformation is a significant threat to healthcare today and a main driver of vaccine hesitancy," said Nicholas Sajjadi, a study researcher and third-year osteopathic medical student at Oklahoma State University College of Osteopathic Medicine. "We're seeing well-intentioned research and concerns taken out of context to stoke fear and anxiety about vaccination."

The making of a misinformation campaign

On December 1, 2020, Drs. Wolfgang Wodarg and Michael Yeadon petitioned to withhold emergency use authorization of the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine for COVID-19 manufactured by BioNTech and Pfizer. The petitioners raised unfounded concerns that female infertility could arise from vaccine-induced antibodies. It is important to note that the petitioners acknowledged the absence of any evidence associating female infertility risks with COVID-19 vaccines.

Anti-vaccine advocates seized on this concern to create a misinformation claim misrepresenting the EMA petition, and the public turned to Google to understand if the information was legitimate. At peak interest, the Google search terms "infertility," "infertility AND vaccine," and "infertility AND COVID vaccine" experienced increases of 119.9%, 11,251%, and 34,900%, respectively, when compared with forecasted values.

"I'm disappointed this misinformation occurred, but I am pleased to see spikes in searches because it reflects genuine interest and suggests that people are doing their research and trying to make informed decisions," said J. Martin Beal, DO, an OB-GYN with Tulsa OB-GYN Associates. "What I'd like to emphasize to patients is that your doctor would love to have this conversation with you to help clarify any questions or concerns you may have. Additionally, I highly encourage getting vaccinated--it will protect you and the baby."

Support for COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists currently recommends that COVID-19 vaccines not be withheld from pregnant patients who meet criteria for vaccination based on priority groups recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and those at increased risk for COVID-19 acquisition, such as women healthcare workers.

"Dispelling misinformation and informing patients about the risks and benefits of COVID-19 vaccination, or other misrepresented claims, can save lives and slow the spread of disease," said Sajjadi. "In the battle to fight misinformation, Google Trends can be an effective tool to help physicians recognize and proactively address false claims with patients."

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About the Journal of Osteopathic Medicine

The Journal of Osteopathic Medicine, founded in 1901 and known for 119 years as The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association, is the premier scholarly, peer-reviewed publication of the osteopathic medical profession. JOM conducts peer review of academic research manuscripts from a wide variety of medical specialties, covering the full spectrum of clinical settings in which osteopathic physicians practice. All submissions are vetted by a distinguished group of Section Editors led by Editor-in-Chief Ross Zafonte, DO, and supported by a full Editorial Board.

Media Contact

Jessica Bardoulas, Senior Director of Public Relations, American Osteopathic Association jbardoulas@osteopathic.org | (312) 202-8038

COVAX signs deal for 500M doses of Chinese vaccines



COVAX has distributed more than 100 million COVID-19 vaccines amid the pandemic. Photo by Luong Thai Linh/EPA-EFE

July 13 (UPI) -- COVAX, the World Health Organization-led initiative to provide equitable worldwide access to vaccines, said it has signed agreements with Chinese pharmaceutical companies for up to more than 500 million doses of their COVID-19 vaccines.

Gavi, the public-private entity co-leading the vaccine effort with the WHO, announced the deal with Sinopharm and Sinovac in a statement Monday, saying the agreements will immediately rush 110 million doses to COVAX Facility participants.

Dr. Seth Berkley, the chief executive at Gavi, said he welcomes the deal as it ensures that COVAX has options amid supply delays.

"Thanks to this deal, and because these vaccines have already received WHO Emergency Use Listing, we can move to start supplying doses to countries immediately," he said.

Under the agreements, Gavi committed to buying a total of 170 million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine, of which 60 million doses will be made available between now and October.

With Sinovac, Gavi committed to buying up to 380 million doses, with the first 50 million to be made available by September.

Weidong Yin, chairman, president and chief executive of Sinovac, said his company has delivered more than 1 billion vaccine doses worldwide as of June.

"We appreciate the efforts from international organizations, including WHO and COVAX partners, to accelerate the efforts of disease prevention," he said in a statement.

Gavi said the deals come at a time when the highly contagious Delta variant "is posing a rising risk to health systems."

The COVAX Facility is one pillar of the WHO's ACT Accelerator that aims to ramp up development, production and equitable access to COVID-19 tests, treatments and vaccines.

Since it was announced, the WHO has been asking countries to join while admonishing so-called vaccine nationalism, where wealthy governments rush to inoculate their entire populations at the expense of people in poorer nations.

The facility, with 135 participating countries, said it has shipped only 106 million vaccines so far.

According to Oxford University's Our World In Data project, more than 3.44 billion doses have been administered worldwide but only 1% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose. In comparison, more than 65% of the populations of Canada, Britain and Israel have received at least one shot.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the chief of WHO, told reporters Monday that the Delta variant present in more than 104 countries was depleting resources and exhausting frontline workers in poor nations while those with high levels of vaccine coverage are also seeing it spread quickly.

"The global gap in vaccine supply is hugely uneven and inequitable," he said. "Some countries and regions are actually ordering millions of booster doses before other countries have had supplies to vaccinate their health workers and most vulnerable."

"I ask you," he said, "who would put firefighters on the frontline without protection?"

Tedros said tens of millions of vaccine dose donations are starting to come through but more is needed.

"Thousands of people are still dying every day and that deserves urgent action," he said.

Google fined almost $600M in France's second-largest antitrust penalty



A view of Google's first retail store in New York City on June 17. Google said Tuesday it's "disappointed" with the French regulator's decision. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

July 13 (UPI) -- A French antitrust watchdog on Tuesday fined tech giant Google almost $600 million, saying the company essentially ignored an order last year to work fairly with publishers to display news content on its platform.

The regulator, the Autorite de la concurrence, handed down the $593 million fine -- which is the second-largest antitrust penalty ever given in France to one company.

The watchdog ordered Google a year ago to stop evading the law and to negotiate in good faith with publishers that produce content. The issue was brought by outlets that grew frustrated with Google's use of their content without paying for it.

The regulator said Google "disregarded several injunctions" from its 2020 order, which said the company must negotiate with news outlets to display articles in search results and other services.

   RELATED Dozens of states file antitrust suit against Google

The fine comes after the watchdog found that the company stopped displaying snippets of content in Google News in France alone, circumventing neighboring news rights.

The agency noted major breaches in how Google negotiated with publishers to reuse their content.

In addition to the fine, the competition authority ordered Google to present an offer of remuneration for current uses of publishers' content within two months. If it fails to do that, Google could face penalties of up to $1 million per day of delay.

In February, the tech giant signed a deal to pay a group of 121 publishers more than $76 million over three years for content.

Google responded to the ruling with disappointment, saying that it has complied with the 2020 order. The company told BBC News that the decision "ignores our efforts to reach an agreement."

"We are very disappointed with this decision," it added. "We have acted in good faith throughout the entire process."

South Korea's Coupang faces boycott over working conditions
By Kim Ji-woo & Kwak Mi-ryung, UPI News Korea

Coupang founder Kim Bom-suk poses at the firm’s office in Seoul. Coupang faces a boycott campaign after the recent controversies surrounding working conditions and a massive fire at its warehouse near Seoul. 

File Photo courtesy of Coupang/UPI News Korea


SEOUL, July 13 (UPI) -- South Korea's e-commerce platform Coupang, which went public earlier this year on the New York Stock Exchange, is facing consumer boycotts and complaints over working conditions and hiring practices.

Over the past month, Twitter and Instagram users have shared hashtags about canceling Coupang membership and posted photos showing they had deleted their Coupang accounts.

The boycott started in mid-June when a firefighter was killed in a blaze at a Coupang warehouse south of Seoul.

The fire sparked criticism from politicians and the media that Coupang has lax safety standards and poor working conditions at its warehouses.

RELATED South Korea's Coupang faces accusations of deaths from overwork

Like giant online retailer Amazon in the United States, Coupang, which has about 15 million users, has faced a public outcry over how it treats workers.

At least nine Coupang workers, including two subcontractors, have died over the past year due to an "inhumane working environment," lawyer Kwon Young-gook, co-chairman of the Committee for Coupang Workers' Human Rights and Health, told international media in April.

Coupang founder Kim Bom-suk resigned from the company's chairmanship, which prompted criticism that he was trying to avoid responsibility for the fire.

RELATEDRetailers Shinsegae, Lotte bid to buy eBay Korea

Against this backdrop, the boycott started.

Coupang promised to provide lifelong support to the family of the firefighter who died. The company also said that founder Kim stepped down on May 31, although it wasn't announced until later.

Fresh controversies surround the company's hiring practices.

RELATED  Samsung heirs top Korea's stock-rich list

On Blind, an anonymous community application for the workplace, users have complained that Coupang dropped job offers after they had been confirmed via phone.

A Coupang representative denied those accusations to UPI News Korea: "We have never canceled our job offers after they are concluded."

Coupang's trade union for delivery workers complains that conditions have not improved.

"In fact, the working conditions are getting worse because demands for delivery keep rising due to the virus pandemic," Coupang courier union's Secretary-General Choi Se-wook said.

"In addition, it seems that Coupang is trying to cut costs to turn to profit and make many new tests, which add more workload on us," he said.

Coupang has not been profitable since its establishment in 2010, with accumulated losses of about $4 billion over the past 10 years.

The firm substantially reduced its net loss last year, but the figure still stood at $475 million. Its 2020 sales amounted to $12 billion.

"In consideration of Coupang's size, I don't think that the company does its best to take social responsibility in line with its scale," People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy official Kim Eun-jung said in a phone interview.

The outfit is one of the major civic groups in the country.

'Superbugs' detected in raw dog food, but danger unclear, study says

By Alan Mozes, HealthDay News



Researchers say that "superbugs" have been detected in various varieties of raw dog food, which they say has the potential to pose a health threat to both pets and humans. File Photo by Jaromir Chalabala/Shutterstock

People who feed their dogs raw pet food may find more on the menu than they bargained for, with a new study finding it may be a source of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that could ultimately threaten humans.

The European analysis looked at 55 wet, frozen, dry, semi-wet and treat-version dog food samples sourced from 25 different brands.

Some of the food was raw; some was not. Raw samples included duck, salmon, turkey, chicken, lamb, goose, beef and vegetable varieties.

More than half -- 54% -- of the raw samples contained a bacteria called Enterococci, and 4 in 10 of enterococci-laced samples contained a form of the bacteria that was determined to be multi-drug resistant.

RELATEDFDA: Salmonella in dog food a 'serious' threat to humans, pets

That means the bacteria did not respond to standard antibiotics.

Equally alarming, investigators said, is that nearly a quarter -- 23% -- of the enterococci-contaminated samples also didn't respond to the antibiotic linezolid, a last-resort antibiotic that is only used for very severe infections that prove untreatable with any other antibiotic.

And this may not be a problem solely for dogs, said study author Ana Freitas.

RELATED Feeding chicken necks to dogs may cause paralyzing condition


She's an investigator with UCIBIO, the Research Unit on Applied Molecular Biosciences, an organization is hosted by REQUIMTE, a collaboration between the University of Porto and the NOVA University of Lisbon, both in Portugal.

"Antibiotic-resistant bacteria threaten our lives because human infections, from common ones to more severe ones, are harder to treat, if treatable at all," Freitas explained.

In fact, an additional genetic analysis revealed that the resistant bacteria identified in raw dog food samples was virtually identical to resistant bacteria found in hospital patients across the Britain, Germany and the Netherlands.

RELATEDAmerica's obesity epidemic has spread to our dogs

That does not, however, mean that raw dog food inevitably puts human life at risk, said Freitas, but it's not good news either.

"The scenario is complex," she acknowledged, noting there no proof yet that resistant bacteria found in raw dog food has actually infected people.

"There has not been a record of a case actually showing transmission of these strains from dog food to their owners," Freitas stressed, adding that "even if it happens, healthy owners would not have a problem."Possible superbug source

But while such dog food-to-person transmission might be difficult to prove, she noted that her team's findings suggest that it must now be considered a possibility.

"The problem," said Freitas, "is that we identified an additional source of superbugs that can be spread by different routes to humans. And if by chance the person is not healthy, this may be a problem."

The analysis was conducted in Portugal between 2019 and 2020. While the study focused on dog food brands currently available in Europe, the researchers noted that some are also marketed internationally.

Freitas said she cannot speak to the popularity or availability of raw dog food in the United States.

However she noted that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plainly states on its website that it generally "does not recommend feeding raw diets to pet[s]," as the bacteria found in such raw food has the potential to make not only pets sick but also their owners.

"Your family also can get sick by handling the raw food or by taking care of your pet," the CDC stresses.

People who still choose to bring raw pet food into the home are advised to wash their hands with soap and water when handling such food, and to "clean and disinfect all surfaces that the raw food touched, like countertops, microwaves, refrigerators and objects like knives, forks, and bowls."

Freitas and her colleagues will report their findings this week at a virtual meeting of the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.

Such research is considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal

Gene link between dogs, owners

Freitas' study was not the only research presented at the meeting on the relationship between dogs, their owners and antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

A gene that confers resistance to a last-resort antibiotic can be passed from dogs to their owners, another group of Portuguese researchers reported.

The mcr-1 gene -- first reported in China in 2015 -- provides resistance to colistin, an antibiotic of last resort. There are fears the gene could combine with drug-resistant bacteria to spawn an untreatable type of infection.

To find out if household pets may be acting as a reservoir of the gene and helping it spread, the researchers analyzed fecal samples from 126 healthy people living with 102 cats and dogs in 80 households in Lisbon.

They found the gene in four people and two pet dogs. In two cases, both the dog and its owner had the gene. No cats were carrying the gene.

While transmission in both directions is possible, it is thought that in at least one case, the gene passed from the dog to its owner.

The findings raise concerns that pets can act as reservoirs for the gene and help spread resistance to last-line antibiotics, the researchers noted.

"Colistin is used when all other antibiotics have failed -- it is a crucial treatment of last resort," study author Juliana Menezes said in an ECCMID news release.

"If bacteria resistant to all drugs acquire this resistance gene, they would become untreatable, and that's a scenario we must avoid at all costs," said Menezes, from the University of Lisbon's Centre of Interdisciplinary Research in Animal Health.

It's an issue that is definitely worth being concerned about, said Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar with the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in Baltimore.

"Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are one of the most pressing public health challenges that exists," said Adalja. "It threatens to take us to a pre-penicillin world.

"This finding is not surprising," he said. "We can find similar resistant bacteria in raw human food as well, and [it] reflects the use of antibiotics in agriculture."

On that latter point, Freitas concurred, noting that "genetically identical [antibiotic-resistant] bacteria have also been found in farm animals and wastewater across the [Britain]."

That does not mean that raw pet food must be banned altogether, she said, "but it should be better controlled" via a periodic inspection regimen that screens for antibiotic resistance.

Meanwhile, Freitas echoed the CDC's advice, adding that "dog owners can always cook this food to guarantee its quality."More information

There's more on risks of raw dog food at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Copyright © 2021 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

New evidence of menopause in killer whales

UNIVERSITY OF EXETER

Research News

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IMAGE: A GROUP OF BIGG'S KILLER WHALES NEAR THE COAST OF WASHINGTON STATE, USA. TYPICALLY, GROUPS CONSIST OF A FEMALE AND 2-3 OF HER OFFSPRING. view more 

CREDIT: CENTER FOR WHALE RESEARCH

Scientists have found new evidence of menopause in killer whales - raising fascinating questions about how and why it evolved.

Most animals breed throughout their lives. Only humans and four whale species are known to experience menopause, and scientists have long been puzzled about why this occurs.

Killer whales are a diverse species made up of multiple separate ecotypes (different types within a species) across the world's oceans that differ in their prey specialisation and patterns of social behaviour.

Previous studies have found menopause in an ecotype called "resident" killer whales whose social structure appears to favour "grandmothering" (females using their energy and knowledge to help their offspring and grand-offspring, rather than competing to breed themselves).

The new study looked at an ecotype of killer whales with a different social structure, where offspring are more likely to leave their mother - and the evolutionary benefits of grandmothering are therefore reduced.

However, menopause was found to be strikingly similar in both killer whale ecotypes.

The research was carried out by the University of Exeter, DFO Canada, the Center for Whale Research, the University of Cambridge and the University of York.

"Previous research on the evolution of menopause has focussed on resident killer whales, where both males and females usually stay in the social group into which they were born," said lead author Mia Lybkær Kronborg Nielsen, of the University of Exeter.

"As a result, females become increasingly genetically related to the other members of the group as they age.

"At birth, their father is not in their family group and their relatedness to males in the group is comparatively low, but by later life, many of the group members are their children or grandchildren, increasing their average relatedness to the group.

"The new study looks at Bigg's killer whales, which may leave their birth group around the time of maturity.

"Some sons and daughters stay with their mother, but overall we predict a weaker pattern of increased relatedness to fellow group members as a whale ages.

"We expected this to be important in terms of menopause because weaker relatedness would appear to give females a weaker evolutionary reason to cease reproduction."

Using more than 40 years of data on Bigg's and resident whales, the researchers found a similar pattern of post-reproductive life for females - accounting for more than 30% of adult years.

"These different whale populations both show increased female relatedness with age, but - as this is stronger in resident than Bigg's killer whales - it's not immediately clear why the age at menopause and the length of the post-reproductive lifespan seems to be the same in both," said Professor Darren Croft, of the University of Exeter.

"Based on theory, we would expect the effect to be stronger in resident killer whales.

"Further research using drones to study how grandmother killer whales help their offspring and grand-offspring in the different populations will allow us to investigate this, and in doing so learn more about how menopause evolved in whales and humans."

Thomas Doniol-Valcroze and Jared Towers, of DFO Canada, said: "This study highlights the value of long-term population studies in which individuals are documented throughout their lives.

"Not only do the results contribute to a better understanding of animal evolution, they have significant implications for conservation by shedding light on the importance of social structure for the recovery of these populations."

Despite living in overlapping waters in the northeast Pacific, these whale populations do not inter-breed.

The differing social structures are probably caused by prey availability.

Resident whales feed on salmon, which have historically been plentiful (though human activities have changed this), allowing the whales to live in larger groups.

Bigg's whales hunt mammals such as seals, and generally disperse into smaller groups to reduce competition - there are only so many mouths that a seal kill will feed.

CAPTION

An adult Bigg's killer whale attacking a harbour seal. Bigg's killer whales work together in small family groups to catch marine mammals.

CREDIT

Center for Whale Research

The study was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council and the Leverhulme Trust.

The paper, published in the journal Ecology and Evolution, is entitled: "A long post-reproductive lifespan is a shared trait among genetically distinct killer whale populations."

CAPTION

Resident killer whales near the coast of Washington State, USA. Often the oldest female leads the group between hunting grounds.

CREDIT

Center for Whale Research

 

Cobalt-containing catalysts used to study super-viscous oil resins at Ashalcha oilfield

A paper saw light in Catalysts.

KAZAN FEDERAL UNIVERSITY

Research News

IMAGE: GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT view more 

CREDIT: KAZAN FEDERAL UNIVERSITY

Ashalcha oilfield in Tatarstan is one of the most popular locations to study the extraction of heavy oils. In particular, Kazan Federal University's In-Situ Combustion Lab has been working there for a few years.

Senior Research Associate Irek Mukhamatdinov explains, "On average, there are one sulfur and one nitrogen atom and five oxygen atoms per resin molecule. In the course of transformation under the action of a catalytic agent and a hydrogen donor, the content of heteroatoms (sulfur, nitrogen and oxygen) in a much larger number of structural blocks of resin molecules decreases. Resin molecules are mainly represented by mono- and two-block structures with a predominance of aromatic rings over naphthenic ones, with long paraffin chains."

His co-author, Head of the In-Situ Combustion Lab Alexey Vakhin adds, "As a result of thermal steam treatment with a catalyst and a hydrogen donor, the fraction of atoms in paraffinic and naphthenic fragments decreases, while in aromatic fragments it increases, which confirms the fact that an increase in the aromaticity and a decrease in the aliphaticity of oil take place during its hydrothermal transformations."

During the study, scientists were able to identify the distribution of resin fractions. These fractions were obtained by liquid-adsorption chromatography, extracted with individual solvents and their binary mixtures in various ratios. The results of MALDI spectroscopy revealed a decrease in the molecular weight of all resin fractions after catalytic treatment, mainly with a hydrogen donor.

"Elemental analysis data indicate a decrease in the H / C ratio for resin fractions as a result of the removal of alkyl substituents in resins and asphaltenes. The data of 1H NMR spectroscopy of resin fractions indicate an increase in the aliphatic hydrogen index during catalytic aquathermolysis in the high-molecular part of resins R3 and R4," says Mukhamatdinov.

One of the advantages of this particular technology is its relative cost effectiveness. New catalysts are planned for use in Ashalcha soon.

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