Researchers develop new metal-free, recyclable polypeptide battery that degrades on demand

This could result in battery production moving away from strategic elements like cobalt

TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY

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IMAGE: GRAPHIC REPRESENTATION OF METAL-FREE, RECYCLABLE POLYPEPTIDE BATTERY. view more 

CREDIT: TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

The introduction of lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries has revolutionized technology as a whole, leading to major advances in consumer goods across nearly all sectors. Battery-powered devices have become ubiquitous across the world. While the availability of technology is generally a good thing, the rapid growth has led directly to several key ethical and environmental issues surrounding the use of Li-ion batteries.

Current Li-ion batteries utilize significant amounts of cobalt, which in several well-documented international cases is mined using child labor in dangerous working environments. Additionally, only a very small percentage of Li-ion batteries are recycled, increasing the demand for cobalt and other strategic elements.

A multidisciplinary team of researchers from Texas A&M University has made a breakthrough that could lead to battery production moving away from cobalt. In an article published in the May issue of Nature, Dr. Jodie Lutkenhaus, Axalta Coating Systems Chair and professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, and Dr. Karen Wooley, distinguished professor in the Department of Chemistry and holder of the W.T. Doherty-Welch Chair in Chemistry in the College of Science, outline their research into a new battery technology platform that is completely metal free. This new battery technology platform utilizes a polypeptide organic radical construction.

"By moving away from lithium and working with these polypeptides, which are components of proteins, it really takes us into this realm of not only avoiding the need for mining precious metals, but opening opportunities to power wearable or implantable electronic devices and also to easily recycle the new batteries," said Wooley, recently honored as the 2021 SEC Professor of the Year. "They [polypeptide batteries] are degradable, they are recyclable, they are non-toxic and they are safer across the board."

The all-polypeptide organic radical battery composed of redox-active amino-acid macromolecules also solves the problem of recyclability. The components of the new battery platform can be degraded on demand in acidic conditions to generate amino acids, other building blocks and degradation products -- one of the major breakthroughs in this research, according to Lutkenhaus.

"The big problem with lithium-ion batteries right now is that they're not recycled to the degree that we are going to need for the future electrified transportation economy," Lutkenhaus added. "The rate of recycling lithium-ion batteries right now is in the single digits. There is valuable material in the lithium-ion battery, but it's very difficult and energy intensive to recover."

The development of a metal-free, all-polypeptide organic radical battery composed of redox-active amino-acid macromolecules that degrade on demand marks significant progress toward sustainable, recyclable batteries that minimize dependence on strategic metals. As a next step, Wooley and Lutkenhaus have begun working in collaboration with Dr. Daniel Tabor, assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry, through a 2020 Texas A&M Triads for Transformation (T3) grant that aims to utilize machine learning to optimize the materials and structure of the battery platform.

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The lead authors on the paper are Tan Nguyen, a current postdoctoral associate at the University of Michigan and former doctoral student from the Texas A&M Department of Chemistry, and Alexandra Easley, a doctoral student in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Texas A&M.

This work was financially supported by the National Science Foundation, the Welch Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science.

New, almost non-destructive archaeogenetic sampling method developed

A new method that allows the almost non-destructive extraction of genetic material from archaeological human remains

EÖTVÖS LORÁND UNIVERSITY (ELTE), FACULTY OF SCIENCE

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IMAGE: A NEW METHOD THAT ALLOWS THE ALMOST NON-DESTRUCTIVE EXTRACTION OF GENETIC MATERIAL FROM ARCHAEOLOGICAL HUMAN REMAINS WAS DEVELOPED BY AN INTERNATIONAL TEAM OF RESEARCHERS. view more 

CREDIT: PHOTO: KISS PÁL MUSEUM (EDIT MESTER AND ALBERT GY?RFI)

An Austrian-American research team (University of Vienna, Department Evolutionary Anthropology and Harvard Medical School, Department of Genetics), in collaboration of Hungarian experts from Eötvös Loránd University, has developed a new method that allows the almost non-destructive extraction of genetic material from archaeological human remains. The method allows anthropologists, archaeologists and archaeogeneticists to avoid the risk of serious damage to artefacts of significant scientific and heritage value, which can then be fully examined in future research.

Bioarcheological research on human and animal remains from archaeological excavations has become increasingly important in recent decades. Both nationally and internationally, in addition to classical archaeological and anthropological research, a significant number of molecular biological way of examination are included. One of the most important fields is archaeogenetics. The study of ancient human and animal genetic material can significantly help both the analysis of human evolution and the answering of historical questions about the populations of later archaeological periods.

The first archaic DNA (aDNA) research started in the 1980s, but the real methodological breakthroughs came after the turn of the millennium. This was the period when next-generation sequencing methods reached bioarcheological research. Thanks to the large-scale research that began at that time, we now know more than 60% of the DNA of Neanderthals preserved in the nuclei of cells. A new human species was described on the basis of the genetic material extracted from teeth and finger bones found in Siberia, and it was recognised that, contrary to previous ideas, Neanderthal man and modern Homo sapiens interbred with each other, that left significant genetic traces in modern human groups north of the Sahara.

However, these samples for archaeogenetic analyses may involve a high degree of destruction and may therefore be of concern from a heritage conservation perspective, preventing or making it difficult to obtain and carry out the sampling.

An international team of researchers (Ron Pinhasi laboratory at the University of Vienna and David Reich' laboratory at Harvard) has recognised this problem and has recently developed several new sampling methods to minimise the bone damage associated with sampling. Firstly, the methodological basis for drilling into the inner ear from the cranial base was developed and later it was shown that the use of auditory ossicles can significantly reduce the damage in the fining during sampling.

The latest research, published in the journal Genome Research, was carried out by the above-mentioned international team and the researchers of the Department of Anthropology (Tamás Hajdu, Krisztián Kiss, Tamás Szeniczey) and the Institute of Archaeology (Alexandra Anders, Pál Raczky) at Eötvös Loránd University.

„The new method significantly reduces the extent of damage of the findings. It consists of dissolving the DNA content of the root fragment of the tooth, rich in cellular cementum, by immersing it in a special solution. The quality of the sample thus obtained is not as good as that of DNA extracted from the inner ear, but it is of the same quality as that of the genetic material obtained by traditional methods (drilling and pulverisation of the tooth). The main advantage of the method is that the tooth undergoes only to minimal damage, leaving its structure intact not only morphologically but also histologically, while its unchanged chemical composition allows subsequent isotopic tests (strontium or C14) to be carried out. The only noticeable change is the fading or whitening of the root colour" - told Tamas Hajdu, head of the Hungarian research group, Assistant Professor at the Department of Anthropology at Eötvös Loránd University.

The significance of the new sampling method, therefore, lies in its minimal destructive effect. If the sampled teeth are left intact, they can be subjected to further morphological, radiological, histological, oral pathological, stable isotope and radiocarbon studies. This may be particularly important in cases where only a few teeth remain have been preserved from a given period and place, which may be tens of thousands of years old, and destructive sampling of these would completely preclude subsequent analysis. In addition to human evolutionary research, the new methodology could also help projects on population history and disease evolution at the Department of Anthropology and the Institute of Archaeology, at Eötvös Loránd University by preserving the integrity of the findings. The new sampling method, developed in international cooperation, offers a new perspective for the preservation of artefacts for national and international museum institutions, while at the same time allowing for the almost non-destructive conduct of the latest archaeogenetic analyses.

ENDING:

The international team of researchers has developed a new sampling method and tested its effectiveness on human material from several archaeological sites in Hungary and abroad. The Hungarian archaeological material can be found in the collections of the Hungarian Natural History Museum, the Herman Ottó Museum, the Déri Museum and the Damjanich János Museum. The new method was initiated by Ron Pinhasi' research group at the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, the University of Vienna and the methodological background was worked out, and the bone and tooth samples were analysed, and the Austrian team and David Reich' Laboratory at the Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School. The anthropological background of the findings was provided by the Department of Anthropology at Eötvös Loránd University and Department of Anthropology at the Hungarian Natural History Museum and the Institute of Archaeology, ELKH-BTK (Tamás Hajdu, Tamás Szeniczey, Krisztián Kiss, Ildikó Pap, Kitti Köhler). The basic archaeological background data of the

Antarctica remains the wild card for sea-level rise estimates through 2100

LANL scientists contribute to comprehensive sea-level rise projections

DOE/LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LABORATORY

Research News

 

IMAGE: THE FRONT OF GETZ ICE SHELF, ANTARCTICA view more 

CREDIT: (PHOTO BY JEREMY HARBECK, NASA ICEBRIDGE).

LOS ALAMOS, N.M., May 5, 2021-- A massive collaborative research project covered in the journal Nature this week offers projections to the year 2100 of future sea-level rise from all sources of land ice, offering the most complete projections created to date.

"This work synthesizes improvements over the last decade in climate models, ice sheet and glacier models, and estimates of future greenhouse gas emissions," said Stephen Price, one of the Los Alamos scientists on the project. "More than 85 researchers from various disciplines, including our team at Los Alamos National Laboratory, produced sea-level rise projections based on the most recent computer models developed within the scientific community and updated scenarios of future greenhouse gas emissions," said Price.

The estimates show that limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures would cut projected 21st century sea-level rise from land ice in half, relative to currently pledged emissions reductions. For example, the paper notes that, when looking at all land ice sources, the median projection of cumulative rise in sea level by the year 2100 decreases from approximately 25 cm to approximately 13 cm when emissions are limited.

The term "land ice" includes mountain glaciers such as those in Alaska, Europe, high-mountain Asia, etc.; ice caps including those of Iceland and the Canadian Arctic; and ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica.

Continental Wild Card

Interestingly, Price points out, Antarctica continues to be the wild card. "Future changes to Antarctica remain highly uncertain," he said. "Because of this, our high-end estimates for sea-level rise from land ice are more than twice as large as the 'most likely' estimate." This is largely due to substantial uncertainty in how strongly warm ocean waters erode floating parts of the ice sheet from beneath.

Apart from that uncertainty, the bulk of the Antarctic sea-level rise projections do not show a strong sensitivity to different emissions scenarios, but a small number of projections result in an up to five-fold increase in sea-level contribution, Price said. Indeed, improving DOE's ability to accurately simulate Southern Hemisphere climate and Antarctic ice sheet evolution has been a focus of Los Alamos efforts for more than a decade.

CAPTION

Present day Antarctic ice flow as simulated by the MALI ice sheet model (jointly developed by Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories, and simulation image courtesy of John Patchett, LANL). Interior grey-to-white areas indicate slow flowing regions while warmer colored areas indicate faster flowing regions (dark red ~10 meters/day). Large orange-to-red regions near the ice sheet margins are floating ice shelves. Fine lines indicate the path of ice flow from the interior, through outlet glaciers and ice streams, and into fringing ice shelves.

CREDIT

Los Alamos National Laboratory

The Los Alamos role:

Los Alamos and the U.S. Department of Energy contributed at many stages of the newly published work, including:

• evaluation and selection of the most appropriate climate models to use for exploring future changes to the Antarctic region;
• the development of experimental protocols and the best methods for using climate model output to drive ice sheet models;
• conducting ice sheet model simulations to project the future sea-level rise contribution from the Antarctic Ice Sheet

Since 2013, Los Alamos has been the lead institution on the Cryosphere Science Campaign within DOE's Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) project, which focuses on improving projections of Antarctic ice sheet evolution and sea level rise. Likewise, since 2010, Los Alamos has been the lead DOE institution on three DOE Office of Science funded projects around the development of "next generation" ice sheet models including ISICLES (2010-2012), PISCEES (2012-2017), and ProSPect (2017-2022). Los Alamos also currently leads or contributes to a number of ongoing efforts towards performing similar "end-to-end" analyses (climate change through future sea-level rise impacts) within a consistent, coupled Earth system modeling framework.

For this paper, Los Alamos's simulations were done using a combination of the Grizzly and Badger supercomputers at the Lab, and NERSC (Cori-KNL) high-performance computing resources. Additional Los Alamos contributors to this work include Xylar Asay-Davis, Alice Barthel, Matthew Hoffman, and Tong Zhang.

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The paper: "Projected land ice contributions to 21st century sea level rise" (in press), Nature. Full author list here, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03302-y

The funding: Funding was provided by the DOE Office of Science, from the offices of Biological and Environmental Research (BER) and Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR).

About Los Alamos National Laboratory

Los Alamos National Laboratory, a multidisciplinary research institution engaged in strategic science on behalf of national security, is managed by Triad, a public service oriented, national security science organization equally owned by its three founding members: Battelle Memorial Institute (Battelle), the Texas A&M University System (TAMUS), and the Regents of the University of California (UC) for the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.

Los Alamos enhances national security by ensuring the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, developing technologies to reduce threats from weapons of mass destruction, and solving problems related to energy, environment, infrastructure, health, and global security concerns.

LAUR: LA-UR-21-22260

 

Ice core chemistry study expands insight into sea ice variability in Southern Hemisphere

UNIVERSITY OF MAINE

Research News

 

Sea ice cover in the Southern Hemisphere is extremely variable, from summer to winter and from millennium to millennium, according to a University of Maine-led study. Overall, sea ice has been on the rise for about 10,000 years, but with some exceptions to this trend.

Dominic Winski, a research assistant professor at the UMaine Climate Change Institute, spearheaded a project that uncovered new information about millennia of sea ice variability, particularly across seasons, in the Southern Hemisphere by examining the chemistry of a 54,000-year-old South Pole ice core.

The Southern Ocean experiences the largest seasonal difference in sea ice cover in the world, with Antarctica surrounded by 18.5 million-square-kilometers of sea ice in the winter and only 3.1 million-square-kilometers of it in the summer. According to researchers, this seasonal disparity in sea ice has a significant influence on regional and global climate, yet scientists for years knew relatively little about the extent of sea ice variation in the Southern Hemisphere before 1979.

When a team of scientists recently retrieved the deepest and oldest ice core from the South Pole and analyzed it, Winski saw an opportunity to learn more about seasonal and overall changes in sea ice in the Southern Hemisphere throughout the Holocene -- the last 11,400 years. The CCI research assistant professor and his colleagues decided to examine the chemistry of the ice core, particularly its sea salt concentrations, to learn more about sea ice variability in the region.

Karl Kreutz, a UMaine professor of Earth and climate sciences, and researchers from Dartmouth College, South Dakota State University, the University of Washington and the University of Colorado Boulder participated in the project. Geophysical Research Letters published the paper detailing their findings.

The team capitalized on the massive seasonal variations in Southern Ocean climate in order to create a sea ice record showing distinct summer and winter variability. They combined this information with a state-of-the-art atmospheric chemistry model to link the ice core measurements with sea ice variability. The result is a detailed record of Southern Ocean sea ice revealing major fluctuations, especially in wintertime sea ice.

Salt levels in the core, which are sensitive to sea ice changes, increased in the past 11,400 years, particularly in the past 8,000-10,000 years, correlating with a growth in ice cover. Winter sea salt concentrations, which originated primarily from salty snow atop sea ice, specifically increased over millennia, demonstrating an overall boost in wintertime sea ice. This pattern is seen elsewhere in Antarctica, which led the research team to hypothesize an Antarctic-wide increase in sea ice during this period.

"One of the most important and challenging goals in our field is to produce detailed reconstructions of sea ice variability. " Winski says. "The exceptional detail of the South Pole Ice Core combined with results from our modeling team gives us a powerful dataset for understanding Antarctic sea ice."

Winski and Kreutz helped retrieve the 54,000-year-old ice core they used for their recent study during two expeditions between 2014 and 2016.

The project, called SPICEcore (South Pole Ice Core), involved scientists from 18 institutions all aiming to create an archive of climate conditions in East Antarctica during the past 54,000 years, including changes in atmospheric chemistry, climate and biogeochemistry.

"The South Pole Ice Core (SPICEcore) is the most precisely dated climate record in this region of Antarctica. We put in a tremendous amount of effort to collect individual chemistry samples for every centimeter of ice," Winski says. "In total, we had to analyze the chemistry of over 100,000 vials of melted ice, but the effort paid off since now we have the rare opportunity to investigate seasonal changes in the Antarctic environment for over 10,000 years."

While the Southern Hemisphere experienced an overall increase in ice cover throughout the Holocene, researchers identified an abrupt drop in sea salt concentrations in the ice core that date back to between 5,000 and 6,000 years ago. According to the team, the drop in salt levels indicates a decrease in ice cover specific to the South Atlantic at that time, a finding corroborated by earlier research.

Ice cover in the North Atlantic, conversely, was more extensive during that period, which researchers claim indicates "a linked and opposing sea ice signal in the North and South Atlantic most likely due to changing ocean circulation." This pattern of opposing North and South Atlantic climate is well-known during abrupt climate change events of colder times deep in the past. The findings of this study may be a hint that the same processes could still be relevant under modern conditions.

Accounting for seasonal variation when studying changes in sea ice across tens of thousands of years helps scientists not only to thoroughly describe past Antarctic climate, but also to understand the mechanisms and processes driving climate change.

"Huge changes in sea ice can occur very rapidly," Winski says, "leading to ramifications for climate worldwide. We still don't entirely understand the forces influencing sea ice variability, which is why detailed climate information from the past is absolutely critical."

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Countries denied access to medicines and vaccines they help develop

YALE UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

New Haven, Conn. -- A Yale-led study reveals that new medicines and vaccines approved for use in the United States are often unavailable in countries that hosted their clinical trials, suggesting that the benefits of drug research are not being shared equitably among populations that participate in testing.

The study, published May 5 in JAMA Network Open, covers 34 novel drugs sponsored by large pharmaceutical companies that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved between 2012 and 2014. Approvals were made on the basis of a total of 898 trials that were held in the United States and 70 other countries worldwide.

By analyzing the 563 trials for which location data was available, the researchers found that, five years after approval in the United States, only 15% of the drugs (5 of 34) were approved in every country that hosted trials. Among the 70 countries that contributed research participants, 7% (five countries) received market access to the drugs they helped test within a year of FDA approval and 31% (22 countries) did so within five years. Approvals happened faster in high-income countries, such as Germany and Canada, while access was lowest in Africa, where none of the drugs were available anywhere except in South Africa, which had access to just 24% of the drugs after five years.

"We discovered substantial gaps in access to new medications that raise concerns about the equitable distribution of research benefits," said Jennifer Miller, assistant professor at Yale School of Medicine, founder of Bioethics International -- a nonprofit advocate for patient-centered medical innovation -- and the study's lead author. "Ensuring market access to medicines for the countries helping to develop them can help effectuate a bedrock principle of research ethics: that the benefits and burdens of research should be shared equitably among the people affected by it."

Clinical research for medicines and vaccines seeking FDA approval is largely conducted outside the United States, and increasingly in lower-income countries. While FDA-approval is necessary for drugs to become available in the United States, it does not ensure market access in other countries. Research sponsors, such as pharmaceutical companies, must submit marketing approval applications to make the medicines and vaccines accessible in countries that hosted trials. While marketing access does not guarantee a patient can afford a medicine or vaccine, or that there is a reasonably sufficient supply of a pharmaceutical product, it is a critical precondition for access to new drugs, the researchers explained.

The 34 drugs were grouped into six treatment areas: infectious disease; cardiovascular disease and diabetes; autoimmune, musculoskeletal, and dermatology; neurology; and psychiatry. The study found that only one of the 34 medications was approved for marketing in all the countries where it was tested a year after FDA approval.

"We found that the typical drug approved by the FDA was tested in 25 different countries," said Dr. Cary Gross, professor of medicine at Yale School of Medicine and a co-author of the paper. "If the citizens of those countries never gain access to the new drug, then one has to ask why are they participating in the research in the first place? Just to see if it's safe for use in the United States and other wealthy countries?"

Even five years after FDA approval, only 5 of 34 of the drugs, or 15%, were approved in all the countries, according to the study.

"Drug research across international boundaries provides U.S. patients access to new medications and vaccines, and could, in theory, maximize benefits for all: The U.S. contributes capital that other countries lack, while those countries contribute human volunteers and a workforce necessary to complete clinical trials expeditiously," said Peter Bach, director of the Center for Health and Policy Outcomes at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and a co-author of the study. "For these partnerships to be truly equitable, then the host countries must benefit from the research by quickly gaining access to the new medications after FDA approval."

To make the process more equitable, the researchers suggest that, as a condition of running clinical trials, governments of host countries require that pharmaceutical companies commit to submitting a marketing approval application within a designated timeframe after FDA approval. They recommend that companies should consider adopting policies through which they will not test drugs in countries where they do not intend to sell the tested product. The researchers also call for transparent tracking, auditing, and reporting on product registrations in countries that host trials to assist in expanding access to new medicines and vaccines globally.

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The study was funded through a grant from Arnold Ventures.

Pioneering study explores passengers' experiences of self-driving cars in winter conditions

UNIVERSITY OF EASTERN FINLAND

Research News

Trust, safety and security are the most important factors affecting passengers' attitudes towards self-driving cars. Younger people felt their personal security to be significantly better than older people.

The findings are from a Finnish study into passengers' attitudes towards, and experiences of, self-driving cars. The study is also the first in the world to examine passengers' experiences of self-driving cars in winter conditions.

The findings were published in Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour. The study was carried out in collaboration between the University of Eastern Finland and Tampere University.

Self-driving cars face huge expectations in Europe and the United States, which is why passengers' experiences and expectations stand at the core of their development. The Finnish study explored passengers' experiences in Helsinki, the capital of Finland, and in Muonio, a small town in Finnish Lapland. In Helsinki, passengers used a driverless shuttle bus in two test areas. In Muonio, local residents travelled with an autonomous car in heavy winter conditions on the main road. The quantitative survey included 141 people, and 70 people participated in a qualitative interview.

The researchers charted passengers' attitudes towards self-driving cars, factors influencing their positive or negative attitudes, and factors that could encourage passengers to use self-driving cars.

According to the study, people's positive attitude towards self-driving cars was most influenced by trust, safety and security. However, people were not prepared to accept technological errors in self-driving cars, even though it is understood that the technology is still under development.

Young passengers clearly had more confidence in the safety and security of self-driving cars than older passengers, and students estimated their ability to act in an emergency to be better than the employed. Winter conditions had no significant impact on people's attitudes towards self-driving cars. There was also no significant difference between the genders.

"Finns have a pragmatic approach to new technology: if the new mode of transport facilitates everyday life and is affordable, there seems to be no obstacle to it becoming mainstream," Professor Arto O. Salonen from the University of Eastern Finland says.

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For further information, please contact:

Arto O. Salonen, Professor, Department of Social Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, arto.salonen@uef.fi, tel. +358 50 359 0613

Research article:

Petri Launonen, Arto O. Salonen, Heikki Liimatainen: Icy roads and urban environments. Passenger experiences in autonomous vehicles in Finland. Transportation Research Part F Traffic Psychology and Behaviour 80:34-48, April 2021. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.trf.2021.03.015

 

Younger generations use English words and phrases frequently and intensely

ESTONIAN RESEARCH COUNCIL

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IMAGE: HELIN KASK view more 

CREDIT: TALLINN UNIVERSITY

The role of English has become ever more prominent, not only in Estonia, but globally. Considering the socio-linguistic situation in Estonia, it is important to study the impact of English on Estonian. Although multilingual communication on the Internet has been studied using different approaches, studies concerning online language contact are rare. Helin Kask, a doctoral candidate at Tallinn University focuses on language changes taking place due to current online language contact and analyses the online language use of young Estonians.

Intense contact with English has raised alarms throughout society regarding the longevity of the Estonian language. The doctoral thesis showed that younger generations borrow (copy) English vocabulary with high frequency and intensity. However, core vocabulary is never borrowed (words such as mother or bread), instead words with specific meanings find their way into vocabularies (such as highlighter and giveaway). There are very few examples of structural changes and they do not present typological problems. In conclusion, it can be said that the English-Estonian language contact is slightly intense and belongs in the second category of Thomason and Kaufman's (2002) five-step scale.

The doctoral thesis analysed 45 fashion, beauty and lifestyle blogs (275,263 words in total) and six vlogs (around 48,000 words in total). The age range of the bloggers and vloggers was 15-30. The analysis revealed that approximately 89% of the borrowed words were exact copies or traditional loanwords, meaning that the word was carried over from English with the same form and meaning. Often these loanwords are words specific to the field that the blogger or vlogger specialises in: names of beauty products, clothing, colours, etc, for example "eyeshadow brush" instead of lauvärvi pintsel and "trench coat" instead of vihmamantel. There are considerably less mixed and selective copies, around 7% and 4% respectively. Mixed copies are compound words and phrases that have been compiled from the two different languages, for example: nude-roosa 'nude-pink' and üli-üli-thankful 'very very thankful'. Selective copies are seemingly Estonian. Most of the selective copies shown in the thesis are copies of some idioms or expressions that have been translated into Estonian, for example minu vabandused 'my apologies' that could be replaced with the more natural Estonian ma vabandan instead. Sometimes these word-for-word translations exist to create word-plays. There are very few structural changes in the material, mostly these are constructions that have become more widely used thanks to the impact of English, for example olen ümbritsetud heade inimeste poolt instead of mind ümbritsevad head inimesed ('I am surrounded by good people') or olen spaasse minemas instead of lähen spaasse ('I am going to the spa'). These changes are also common in general use of the Estonian language.

"The most commonly copied words and phrases are those with specific or metaphorical meanings," explains Kask. "Specific meanings are most likely being copied due to the words not existing in the Estonian language or their counterparts not conveying the idea of the word specifically enough. In the case of the loaned metaphorical meanings, the aim is to find new forms of expression that sound fresh and exciting. Copying also occurs due to strong emotional connotation, as strong feelings are often easier to convey in English, and frequency: the more often a word or phrase is seen in English, the more likely it is to be copied to Estonian."

Until now, very few studies have researched the integration of English words into the Estonian language. The doctoral thesis examined this through the concordance of adjectives. The material of the doctoral thesis shows slightly more examples of adjectives being discordant (55%). At the same time, the analysis showed that if the English adjective is morphologically similar to an Estonian word and can be fitted into a declension type, then the adjective will become concordant. Such concordant adjectives were, for example, two-syllable long adjectives that ended with -y and which were structurally similar to the Estonian adjective tubli: fancymaid toite 'fancier foods'. Discordant adjectives were those that had a pronunciation different from their spelling, such as 'awesome'.

The dissertation was supervised by Professor Anna Verschik from Tallinn University. The opponents are professor Albert Backus from Tilburg University and University of Tartu's associate professor Virve-Anneli Vihman.

The dissertation is available in the ETERA digital environment of TU Academic Library. https://www.etera.ee/zoom/118684/view?page=1&p=separate&search=mcnamara&tool=search&view=0,0,2067,2835

 

Alzheimer's study: A Mediterranean diet might protect against memory loss and dementia

DZNE - GERMAN CENTER FOR NEURODEGENERATIVE DISEASES

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In Alzheimer's disease, neurons in the brain die. Largely responsible for the death of neurons are certain protein deposits in the brains of affected individuals: So-called beta-amyloid proteins, which form clumps (plaques) between neurons, and tau proteins, which stick together the inside of neurons. The causes of these deposits are as yet unclear. In addition, a rapidly progressive atrophy, i.e. a shrinking of the brain volume, can be observed in affected persons. Alzheimer's symptoms such as memory loss, disorientation, agitation and challenging behavior are the consequences.

Scientists at the DZNE led by Prof. Michael Wagner, head of a research group at the DZNE and senior psychologist at the memory clinic of the University Hospital Bonn, have now found in a study that a regular Mediterranean-like dietary pattern with relatively more intake of vegetables, legumes, fruit, cereals, fish and monounsaturated fatty acids, such as from olive oil, may protect against protein deposits in the brain and brain atrophy. This diet has a low intake of dairy products, red meat and saturated fatty acids.

A nationwide study

A total of 512 subjects with an average age of around seventy years took part in the study. 169 of them were cognitively healthy, while 343 were identified as having a higher risk of developing Alzheimer's disease - due to subjective memory impairment, mild cognitive impairment that is the precursor to dementia, or first-degree relationship with patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. The nutrition study was funded by the Diet-Body-Brain competence cluster of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and took place as part of the so-called DELCODE study of the DZNE, which does nationwide research on the early phase of Alzheimer's disease - that period before pronounced symptoms appear.

"People in the second half of life have constant eating habits. We analyzed whether the study participants regularly eat a Mediterranean diet - and whether this might have an impact on brain health ", said Prof. Michael Wagner. The participants first filled out a questionnaire in which they indicated which portions of 148 different foods they had eaten in the past months. Those who frequently ate healthy foods typical of the Mediterranean diet, such as fish, vegetables and fruit, and only occasionally consumed foods such as red meat, scored highly on a scale.

An extensive test series

The scientists then investigated brain atrophy: they performed brain scans with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners to determine brain volume. In addition, all subjects underwent various neuropsychological tests in which cognitive abilities such as memory functions were examined. The research team also looked at biomarker levels (measured values) for amyloid beta proteins and tau proteins in the so-called cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of 226 subjects.

The researchers, led by Michael Wagner, found that those who ate an unhealthy diet had more pathological levels of these biomarkers in the cerebrospinal fluid than those who regularly ate a Mediterranean-like diet. In the memory tests, the participants who did not adhere to the Mediterranean diet also performed worse than those who regularly ate fish and vegetables. "There was also a significant positive correlation between a closer adherence to a Mediterranean-like diet and a higher volume of the hippocampus. The hippocampus is an area of the brain that is considered the control center of memory. It shrinks early and severely in Alzheimer's disease," explained Tommaso Ballarini, PhD, postdoctoral fellow in Michael Wagner's research group and lead author of the study.

Continuation of nutrition study is planned

"It is possible that the Mediterranean diet protects the brain from protein deposits and brain atrophy that can cause memory loss and dementia. Our study hints at this," Ballarini said. "But the biological mechanism underlying this will have to be clarified in future studies." As a next step, Ballarini and Wagner now plan to re-examine the same study participants in four to five years to explore how their nutrition - Mediterranean-like or unhealthy - affects brain aging over time.

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Original publication

Mediterranean Diet, Alzheimer Disease Biomarkers and Brain Atrophy in Old Age, Ballarini et al., Neurology® (May 2021), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000012067,

URL: https://n.neurology.org/lookup/doi/10.1212/WNL.0000000000012067

About Deutsches Zentrum für Neurodegenerative Erkrankungen (German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, DZNE)

The DZNE investigates all aspects of neurodegenerative diseases (such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's and Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) in order to develop novel approaches of prevention, treatment, and health care. It is comprised of ten sites across Germany and cooperates closely with universities, university hospitals, and other research institutions on a national and international level. The DZNE is a member of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centers. Website: http://www.dzne.de/en

Mediterranean diet

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The Mediterranean diet is a way of eating based on the traditional cuisine of countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea. While there is no single definition of the Mediterranean diet, it is typically high in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans, nut and seeds, and olive oil

 

New method boosts syngas generation from biopolyols

DALIAN INSTITUTE OF CHEMICAL PHYSICS, CHINESE ACADEMY SCIENCES

Research News

 

IMAGE: SCHEMATIC MECHANISM OF THE PHOTOINDUCED PCET PROCESS OVER [SO4]/CDS view more 

CREDIT: DICP

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Photocatalytic biomass conversion is an ideal way of generating syngas (H2 and CO) via C-C bond cleavage, which is initiated by hydrogen abstraction of O/C-H bond. However, the lack of efficient electron-proton transfer limits its efficiency. Conversional gasification of biomass into syngas needs to be operated at high temperature (400-700 °C).

Recently, a group led by Prof. WANG Feng from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), in collaboration with Prof. WANG Min from Dalian University of Technology, proposed a new method to realize photocatalytic conversion of biopolyols to syngas at room temperature with high efficiency.

This study was published in Journal of the American Chemical Society on April 27.

The researchers prepared surface sulfate ions modified CdS catalyst ([SO4]/CdS), which could simultaneously increase both the electron and proton transfer, thereby facilitating the generation of syngas mixture from biopolyols with high activity and selectivity.

In situ characterizations combined with theoretical calculations demonstrated that the surface sulfate ion [SO4] was bifunctional, serving as the proton acceptor to promote proton transfer, and increasing the oxidation potential of the valence band to enhance electron transfer.

Compared with pristine CdS, [SO4]/CdS exhibited 9-fold higher CO generation rate and 4-fold higher H2 generation. Through this method, a wide range of sugars, such as glucose, fructose, maltose, sucrose, xylose, lactose, insulin, and starch, were facilely converted into syngas.

This study reveals the pivotal effect of surface sulfate ion on electron-proton transfer in photocatalysis and provides a facile method for increasing photocatalytic efficiency.

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Defective epithelial barriers linked to two billion chronic diseases

UNIVERSITY OF ZURICH

Research News

 

IMAGE: STRAIGHT AND CLEAR EPITHELIAL BARRIER OF HEALTHY BRONCHIAL EPITHELIAL CELLS (AT THE TOP) AND LEAKY AND DAMAGED ASTHMATIC EPITHELIAL CELLS (AT THE BOTTOM). view more 

CREDIT: (IMAGE: CEZMI AKDIS)

Epithelial cells form the covering of most internal and external surfaces of the human body. This protective layer acts as a defense against invaders - including bacteria, viruses, environmental toxins, pollutants and allergens. If the skin and mucosal barriers are damaged or leaky, foreign agents such as bacteria can enter into the tissue and cause local, often chronic inflammation. This has both direct and indirect consequences.

Chronic diseases due to defective epithelial barriers

Cezmi Akdis, Director of the Swiss Institute of Allergy and Asthma Research (SIAF), which is associated with the University of Zurich (UZH), has now published a comprehensive summary of the research on epithelial barrier damage in Nature Reviews Immunology. "The epithelial barrier hypothesis proposes that damages to the epithelial barrier are responsible for up to two billion chronic, non-infectious diseases," Professor Akdis says. In the past 20 years, researchers at the SIAF alone published more than 60 articles on how various substances damage the epithelial cells of a number of organs.

Rise in allergic and autoimmune conditions

The epithelial barrier hypothesis provides an explanation as to why allergies and autoimmune diseases have been increasing for decades - they are linked to industrialization, urbanization and westernized lifestyle. Today many people are exposed to a wide range of toxins, such as ozone, nanoparticles, microplastics, household cleaning agents, pesticides, enzymes, emulsifiers, fine dust, exhaust fumes, cigarette smoke and countless chemicals in the air, food and water. "Next to global warming and viral pandemics such as COVID-19, these harmful substances represent one of the greatest threats to humankind," emphasizes Akdis.

Asthma, Alzheimer's et al.

Local epithelial damage to the skin and mucosal barriers lead to allergic conditions, inflammatory bowel disorders and celiac disease. But disruptions to the epithelial barrier can also be linked to many other diseases that are characterized by changes in the microbiome. Either the immune system erroneously attacks "good" bacteria in healthy bodies or it targets pathogenic - i.e. "bad" - invaders. In the gut, leaky epithelial barriers and microbial imbalance contribute to the onset or development of chronic autoimmune and metabolic diseases such as diabetes, obesity, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis or ankylosing spondylitis. Moreover, defective epithelial barriers have also been linked to neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, autism spectrum disorders and chronic depression, which may be triggered or aggravated by distant inflammatory responses and changes in the gut's microbiome.

Prevention, intervention - and more research

"There is a great need to continue research into the epithelial barrier to advance our understanding of molecular mechanisms and develop new approaches for prevention, early intervention and therapy," says Akdis. Novel therapeutic approaches could focus on strengthening tissue-specific barriers, blocking bacteria or avoiding colonization by pathogens. Other strategies to reduce diseases may involve the microbiome, for example through targeted dietary measures. Last but not least, the focus must also be on avoiding and reducing exposure to harmful substances and developing fewer toxic products.

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