Nicotine dose in a single cigarette blocks estrogen production in women’s brains

Reports and Proceedings

EUROPEAN COLLEGE OF NEUROPSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY

 

IMAGE: AROMATASE (ESTROGEN SYNTHETASE) DETECTED IN THE THALAMUS (RED SPOT) view more 

CREDIT: JANA IMMENSCHUH

A dose of nicotine, equivalent to that found in a single cigarette blocks estrogen production in women’s brains. This may explain several behavioural differences in women who smoke, including why they are more resistant than men to quitting smoking. This work is presented for the first time at the ECNP Congress in Vienna.

Lead researcher, Associate Professor Erika Comasco (Uppsala University, Sweden) said:

 “For the first time, we can see that nicotine works to shuts down the estrogen production mechanism in the brain of women. We were surprised to see that this effect could be seen even with a single dose of nicotine, equivalent to just one cigarette, showing how powerful the effects of smoking are on a woman’s brain. This is a newly-discovered effect, and it’s still preliminary work. We’re still not sure what the behavioural or cognitive outcomes are; only that nicotine acts on this area of the brain, however we note that the affected brain system is a target for addictive drugs, such as nicotine”.

The effect has been shown in the thalamus, which is part of the limbic system in the brain. This system is involved in behavioural and emotional responses.

The researchers, from Uppsala University in Sweden, worked with a group of ten healthy female volunteers. The women were given a commercially available nicotine dose intranasally, and at the same time were injected with a radioactive tracer attached to a molecule which binds to the enzyme aromatase: aromatase, also known as estrogen synthase, is the enzyme responsible for the production of estrogen. MRI and PET brain scans enabled the researchers to visualise both the quantity of aromatase, and where it was located in the brain. The researchers found that a single dose moderately reduced the amount of aromatase in the brain.

It has been known for some time that women and men respond differently to nicotine, with women being more resistant to nicotine replacement therapy, and showing a greater tendency than men to relapse when trying to quit smoking. However, the biological basis for these differences is not understood. This is the first time that this inhibitory effect on aromatase production has been shown in humans. The effect on men was not studied.

Professor Comasco continued “This discovery leads us to believe that nicotine’s effect on estrogen production has a significant impact on the brain, but perhaps also on other functions, such as the reproductive system – we don’t know that yet. There are significant differences in the way men and women react to smoking. Women seem to be more resistant to nicotine replacement therapy, they experience more relapses, show greater vulnerability for heritability of smoking, and are at greater risk of developing primary smoking-related illnesses, such as lung cancer and heart attacks. We need now to understand if this action of nicotine on the hormonal system is involved in any of these reactions.

Of course this is a comparatively small group of women, we need a larger sample to confirm these findings. Nevertheless, the message is that nicotine has various effects on the brain, including on the production of sex hormones such as estrogen”. 

Commenting, Professor Wim van den Brink, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry and Addiction at the Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam said:

 “This is indeed an important first finding. Smoking has many adverse effects in men and in women, but this particular effect of nicotine on the reduction of estrogen production in woman was not known before. It should be noted, however, that tobacco addiction is a complex disorder with many contributing factors. It’s unlikely that this specific effect of nicotine on the thalamus (and the production of estrogen) explains all the observed differences in the development, treatment and outcomes between male and female smokers. It is still a long way from a nicotine induced reduction in estrogen production to a reduced risk of nicotine addiction and negative effects of treatment and relapse in female cigarette smokers, but this work merits further investigation”.

Professor van den Brink was not involved in this work, it is an independent comment.

 

This work is presented at the 35th European College of Neuropsychopharmacology annual conference, which takes place in Vienna and online from 15-18 October, see https://www.ecnp.eu/Congress2022/ECNPcongress. Up to 5000 delegates are expected to attend. The ECNP is Europe’s main organisation working in applied neuroscience.

 

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METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

The U-curve: children born to younger or older parents have an increased risk of bipolar disorder

EUROPEAN COLLEGE OF NEUROPSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY


Parental age and risk of bipolar disorder in children. This graph is adapted from the published original. Y-axis indicates odds ratio. view more
Credit: Giovanna Fico

Children of either younger or older parents carry an increased risk of bipolar disorder.  This risk is greater if you were born to a mother or father younger than 20 years old, if your mother was older than 35, or your father was older than 45. This tendency gives a ‘U-Shaped Curve’, showing increased risks for younger and older parents. This work is presented at the ECNP Congress in Vienna, after recent publication in the peer-reviewed journal European Neuropsychopharmacology.

Bipolar disorder, where sufferers can swing from moods of elation to moods of extreme depression, is one of the most common serious mental illnesses, affecting around 2% of people, and carries a high risk of suicide and premature death. It is known to have high heritability; if one parent has bipolar disorder there’s a 15% to 30% chance that this will be passed on to their children.

Study leader Dr Giovanna Fico, of the University of Barcelona, said:

“Parental age is a factor which affects many conditions, such as fertility and some neuropsychiatric disorders. What we have found is slightly unusual because both younger and older parents carry an increased risk of having a child with bipolar disorder. The increased risk is moderate, but real. We can speculate that younger parents may be affected by environmental factors, such as socio-economic problems, lack of support, but also stress or immunological factors, and that older parents may have genetic factors coming into play, but the truth is we don’t really know”.

The researchers, from Spain, Italy, Australia and the Netherlands, undertook a systematic review of studies from various countries which relate bipolar disorder to age. In total the studies included 13,424,760 participants, of whom 217,089 had bipolar disorder. They found that older men were more at risk than other groups of having a child with bipolar disorder. These men had 29% higher odds of having a baby with bipolar disorder than fathers aged 25 to 29 while older women had 20% higher odds than mothers aged 25 to 29. In parents younger than 20 years the increased odds were 23% (for mothers) to 29% (for fathers). All analyses were corrected for biasing factors, like familial history for bipolar disorders and the age of the other parent.

Giovanna Fico said “Again, we must stress that this risk is moderate, and it must be kept in perspective. However, for those already at risk, age is another factor that should be taken into consideration, and so it may be that doctors need to counsel both younger and older couples if they have a risk of bipolar disorder. We also see this U-shaped curve in some other conditions, such as autism and some cardiovascular diseases”.

She continued:

“We are planning to study several environmental factors which might be related to the risk of bipolar disorder, but also to its course of illness. For example, we would like to explore how the exposure to pollution, climate changes, urbanization might affect the risk of some psychiatric disorders, and we want to try to understand if these factors help or worsen the course of the disorder”.

 

Commenting, Professor Maj Vinberg (University of Copenhagen) said:

“This interesting systematic review article shows that children of young parents (up to 20 years) have a greater risk of developing bipolar affective disorder. The same pattern is seen in older parents, defined as fathers over 45 and mothers over 35.

The study raises several exciting research questions, including the possibility of early prevention and intervention. For example, in the daily clinical settings, it is crucial to be aware that young individuals with BD in their manic phases have more risky sexual behavior, which can associate with an increased pregnancy risk”.

This is an independent comment, Professor Vinberg was not involved in this research.

This work is presented at the 35th European College of Neuropsychopharmacology annual conference, which takes place in Vienna and online from 15-18 October, see https://www.ecnp.eu/Congress2022/ECNPcongress. Up to 5000 delegates are expected to attend. The ECNP is Europe’s main organisation working in applied neuroscience.

The published paper, “The U-shaped relationship between parental age and the risk of bipolar disorder in the offspring: A systematic review and meta-analysis”, Fico et al. Eur Neuropsychopharmacol  2022 Jul;60:55-75. doi: 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2022.05.004, can be accessed at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35635997/

None of the comments in this press release are in the published paper. A copy of the paper is available to journalists on request to the press officer.

 

Research calls for more open approach to adoption

Reports and Proceedings

UNIVERSITY OF EAST ANGLIA

A more open approach to adoption is needed so that adopted people do not lose relationships with people who have been important to them in their life, according to new research by the University of East Anglia (UEA).

Findings from two studies, published during National Adoption Week by UEA’s Centre for Research on Children and Families, also suggest this helps adopted people to have a better sense of their own identity.

The theme for this year’s National Adoption Week is about maintaining adopted children's relationships and identities.

Prof Elsbeth Neil, of UEA’s School of Social Work and one of the study authors, said: “Adoption has often been seen as ‘a fresh start’ with a ‘clean break’ from the child’s birth seen as necessary. But now new research with adopted adults demonstrates the problems this approach causes throughout the lifespan.

“Without information about their background and family of origin adopted people struggle with questions of identity, and many feel a sense of loss at losing significant relationships, or simply not having the chance to get to know parents, brothers, sisters or others in their birth family.

“Tens of thousands of adopted adults and their birth relatives have been affected by the lack of openness in adoption, but services to help them deal with the consequences of this need more priority.”

Prof Neil added: “Adoptees need quicker and easier ways of accessing their adoption records and they need access to affordable support services to help them work through the emotional impact of adoption and to support them in the process of finding their birth family where this is desired.

“This research also has messages for children being adopted today, in particular that the system needs to do more to actually maintain children’s relationships where they are safe and supportive, so they do not end up with these identity questions as adults.”

The first study looks at how adoption agencies respond to requests from intermediary agencies to support reunions between adopted adults and their birth families.

Intermediary services support adopted adults to contact their birth family, and vice versa they can support birth parents to make contact with their child who was adopted.

Before intermediary services can put people in touch with each other, they must ask the agency holding the adoption records to check the file for contact details, background information and to make sure that the adopted person has not placed a veto on being contacted by birth relatives.

This new research, carried out with adoption intermediary service Joanna North Associates, explores how quickly adoption agencies respond to these requests, and factors that may prevent a timely response. One of the key recommendations is that the needs of adopted adults and birth relatives should be given more strategic consideration at national and agency level.

Dr Joanna North said: “Our work in connecting adopted people to their lost family of origin has shown us the cost of human suffering when people cannot connect with their birth relatives in a timely fashion. These searches are time sensitive. On too many occasions the system has been so slow to respond to our requests for records that the subject of a search may have died before we reach them.

“The research we carried out with UEA shows the large variations in how long it can take agencies to check files, as well as the lack of resources and guidance to enable searches to be carried out quickly. 

“The government needs to ensure a consistent process from Local Authorities so that there is a minimum standard for helping adopted people access their records, reducing the suffering that this is causing.”   

The second study, conducted in collaboration with adoption support agency PAC-UK, analyses survey data from more than 200 adopted adults exploring their priorities around the topic of maintaining birth family relationships.

It found widespread support for the prioritisation of birth-family relationships, the need for more support for adopted adults and more open discussion about birth family links. The findings will be presented today during an online event organised by PAC-UK and led by adopted adults.

PAC-UK National Strategic Lead Mike Hancock said: “We are at an exciting time of potential change in adoption where questions are being asked about whether the severing of ties with birth family and the consequent secrecy around identity is beneficial to adopted children. The message we are getting for many adopted adults is that it is not.”

During a webinar on Thursday (October 20) Prof Neil will discuss ongoing work around the ‘theory of change’, focusing on the adoption system and highlighting key problems related to the lack of openness in adoption, and the issues this causes for adopted people, birth parents and adoptive parents.

The webinar will be run in collaboration with CoramBAAF, an independent organisation for professionals, foster carers and adopters, and anyone else working with or looking after children in or from care, or adults who have been affected by adoption.

Over the last few months researchers have been drawing on existing research and talking to a wide range of people with lived and professional experience. The event will include contributions from a range of people with lived experience including adopted adults, a birth parent, and adoptive parent. There will be a focus on what could be done differently to improve the adoption system.

Research briefings for the two studies are available at CRCF Research Briefings - Groups and Centres (uea.ac.uk)

Bumblebees have poor, but useful memories 

Study results reveal bumblebees' memories operate differently to humans'

Peer-Reviewed Publication

QUEEN MARY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON

 

IMAGE: BEE DRINKING FROM ARTIFICIAL FLOWER view more 

CREDIT: YONGHE ZHOU

Bumblebees  don’t seem to keep memories for how sweet a flower was, but instead only remember if it was sweeter than another flower, according to researchers at Queen Mary University of London, along with an international team of scientists. 

In new research in the journal eLife, bumblebees were first trained on two flowers, learning that one flower was sweeter than a second flower. Later, they learned that a third flower was sweeter than a fourth flower. Then bumblebees were given the choice between two of the flowers they hadn’t seen together before, for example the second and third or the first and third.  

Over a series of experiments, bumblebees’ preferences during the tests indicated that they could only retain very basic ranking memories for the flowers for very long. The bumblebees could only remember that a flower had been better or worse during training phase. Bees couldn’t seem to remember for more than a few minutes how sweet or rewarding the flowers were on their own or even how much sweeter they were compared to other flowers.  

Previous research shows that we humans actually keep memories for both absolute information (e.g. how sweet something is) and comparisons [Palminteri and Lebreton, 2021]. Starlings, a bird native to Europe, and the only other animal for which this question has been examined, similarly use a combination of absolute and comparative information when remembering options [Pompilio and Kacelnik, 2010].

Ms Yonghe Zhou, co-lead author on the paper and currently a PhD student at Queen Mary University of London, says: “Our results reveal an intriguing divergent mechanism for how bumblebees retain and use information about options, compared to humans and birds.” 

Prof Fei Peng, senior author currently at Southern Medical University, China, states “It may be that the different strategies used by bumblebees and humans may have evolved because of their different diets. Maybe because bumblebees evolved to mostly only eat flower nectar, they never needed to remember the details and could survive and thrive simply using simple comparisons.”  

Ms Yonghe adds: “Despite what may seem to be a poor memory strategy, bumblebees do very well in finding the most profitable flowers. It’s fascinating to consider how different animals, in their own ecological niche, can be similarly successful using such different strategies.” 

 

More Information: 

Research Paper: “Bumblebees retrieve only the ordinal ranking of foraging options when comparing memories obtained in distinct settings” Cwyn Solvi, Yonghe Zhou, Yunxiao Feng, Yuyi Lu, Mark Roper, Li Sun, Rebecca Reid, Lars Chittka, Andrew B Barron, Fei Peng. eLife 

DOI: https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.78525 

 

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JOURNAL

eLife

DOI

10.7554/eLife.78525 

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Bumblebees retrieve only the ordinal ranking of foraging options when comparing memories obtained in distinct settings

Livers have the potential to function for more than 100 years

Research findings about a unique group of transplanted livers could help raise the age of potential donors, thus expanding the donor pool in the future

Reports and Proceedings

AMERICAN COLLEGE OF SURGEONS

 

IMAGE: LIVERS HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO FUNCTION FOR MORE THAN 100 YEARS view more 

CREDIT: AMERICAN COLLEGE OF SURGEONS

Key takeaways 

• Understanding the characteristics of livers that live to 100 could potentially expand the donor pool by using older liver donors more often. 

• New surgical techniques and advances in immunosuppression lead to better outcomes for patients receiving a liver from an older donor.  

• Optimizing both donor and recipient factors allow for much greater longevity for certain livers. 

SAN DIEGO: There is a small, but growing, subset of livers that have been transplanted and have a cumulative age of more than 100 years, according to researchers from University of Texas (UT) Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, and TransMedics, Andover, Massachusetts. They studied these livers to identify characteristics to determine why these organs are so resilient, paving the way for considering the potential expanded use of older liver donors. The research team presented their findings at the Scientific Forum of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Clinical Congress 2022. 

The researchers used the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) STARfile to identify livers that had a cumulative age (total initial age at transplant plus post-transplant survival) of at least 100 years. Of 253,406 livers transplanted between 1990-2022, 25 livers met the criteria of being centurion livers—those with a cumulative age over 100 years. 

“We looked at pre-transplant survival—essentially, the donor’s age—as well as how long the liver went on to survive in the recipient,” said lead study author Yash Kadakia, a medical student at UT Southwestern Medical School. “We stratified out these remarkable livers with over 100-year survival and identified donor factors, recipient factors, and transplant factors involved in creating this unique combination where the liver was able to live to 100 years.” 

Centurion livers came from older donors 

For these centurion livers, the average donor age was significantly higher, 84.7 years compared with 38.5 years for non-centurion liver transplants. The researchers noted that for a liver to make it to 100, they expected to find an older average donor age as well as healthier donors. Notably, the donors from the centurion group had lower incidence of diabetes and fewer donor infections. 

“We previously tended to shy away from using livers from older donors,” said study coauthor Christine S. Hwang, MD, FACS, associate professor of surgery, UT Southwestern Medical Center. “If we can sort out what is special amongst these donors, we could potentially get more available livers to be transplanted and have good outcomes.”  

There are 11,113 patients on liver transplant waiting list as of September 22, 2022.* As Dr. Hwang noted, using older liver donors more often could potentially expand the liver donor pool. 

Further study details 

Centurion liver donors had lower transaminases, which are enzymes that play a key role in the liver. Elevated transaminases can cause problems in liver transplantation. Additionally, the recipients of centurion livers had significantly lower MELD scores (17 for the centurion group, 22 for the non-centurion group). A higher MELD score indicates that a patient is more urgently in need of a transplant.  

“The donors were optimized, the recipients were optimized, and it takes that unique intersection of factors to result in a really good outcome,” Mr. Kadakia said. 

The researchers found that no grafts in the centurion group were lost to primary nonfunction or vascular or biliary complications. There was notably no significant difference in rates of rejection at 12 months between the centurion group and the non-centurion group. Further, outcomes for the centurion group had significantly better allograft and patient survival.  

“The existence of allografts over 100 years old is revealing of the dramatic resilience of the liver to senescent events,” the study authors concluded.  

“Livers are incredibly resilient organs,” said Mr. Kadakia. “We’re using older donors, we have better surgical techniques, we have advances in immunosuppression, and we have better matching of donor and recipient factors. All these things allow us to have better outcomes.” 

Study coauthors are Malcolm MacConmara, MBBCh, FACS; Madhukar S. Patel, MD; Jigesh A. Shah, DO; Steven I. Hanish, MD, FACS; and Parsia A. Vagefi, MD, FACS. 

Citation: Kadakia Y, et al. Centurion Livers — Making It to 100 with A Transplant, Scientific Forum, American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress 2022. 

Centurion Liver Video (VIDEO)

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* Data. Organ Procurement & Transplantation Network. Accessed September 23, 2022. Available at: https://optn.transplant.hrsa.gov/data/ (.)  

# # # 

About the American College of Surgeons  

The American College of Surgeons is a scientific and educational organization of surgeons that was founded in 1913 to raise the standards of surgical practice and improve the quality of care for all surgical patients. The College is dedicated to the ethical and competent practice of surgery. Its achievements have significantly influenced the course of scientific surgery in America and have established it as an important advocate for all surgical patients. The College has more than 84,000 members and is the largest organization of surgeons in the world. "FACS" designates that a surgeon is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. 

Beyond humans – mammal combat in extreme environs

Goats and sheep combat in climate crisis

Peer-Reviewed Publication

WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY

 

IMAGE: MOUNTAIN GOAT MOVES TO THREE BIGHORN RAMS; THE GOAT LATER DROPPED HIS HEAD AND ACTIVELY DISPLACED THE SHEEP AT A HIGH ELEVATION SNOW PATCH IN GLACIER NATIONAL PARK. view more 

CREDIT: FOREST P. HAYES

A new study from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), Colorado State University, and the National Park Service indicates previously unknown high altitude contests between two of America’s most sensational mammals – mountain goats and bighorn sheep – over access to minerals previously unavailable due to the past presence of glaciers which, now, are vanishing due to global warming. 

The study also points to other coveted resources such as desert water and shade in brutal environs from Africa, Asia, and North America; species in these extreme environments contest access to these biologically important resources but such interactions have not previously been catalogued by individual species, their size, or their status as ‘native’ or ‘exotic’. 

“While humans continue to be justifiably concerned about the climate-induced havoc we’re wreaking planet-wide, much has remained unknown about species aggression among our mammalian brethren” said Joel Berger, the lead author and Senior Scientist for WCS and the Barbara Cox-Anthony Chair of Wildlife Conservation at Colorado State University. 

The findings from this work were distilled from fragmentary information dating backwards some four decades and included species as different as marmots and baboons, oryx and elephants, and rhinos, along with wild (i.e., feral) horses which displaced native pronghorn, mule deer, and elk from desert waters.

The study revealed that mountain goats with their saber-like horns emerged victorious over bighorn sheep in more than 98 percent of contests at three sites along a 900-mile gradient of above-treeline mountainous habitat from Colorado to Alberta, Canada. While mountain goats are a native species in northwestern North America, they are exotic in Colorado and Wyoming, including the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, where they were introduced. Concerns there and elsewhere have focused on the extent to which goats may displace or outcompete native bighorns. Although it remains unknown if interactions to access resources have increased over time as our climate degrades, human activity has both increased and decreased access by wildlife to restricted resources such as minerals and water through road building and by the creation of artificial water sources. 

The study appears in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. Co-authors, Mark Biel, Chief biologist at Glacier National Park in Montana, and PhD candidate Forest Hayes at CSU, pointed out that high elevation aggression between species, whether passive or active, highlight the importance of limited resources, but it’s been well known that both bighorns and mountain goats will travel up to fifteen miles or more to access these limited resources.  Desert elephants travel distances even more impressive – up to 40 miles – to drink from distant waterholes in Namibia. 

“It’s been exciting to gather data in wind, snow, and cold on goats and sheep in both Glacier and at Mt. Evans, Colorado, which reaches to more than 14,000 feet,” offered Forest Hayes where “our observations both at close range and from distances of more than a mile provided unique opportunities for detecting and understanding ecological interactions.” 

Berger, Biel, and Hayes suggest a possible role of climate challenge through ground water depletion in desert areas but recognize humans may be a more immediate threat as water use for people increasingly jeopardizes the fragility of biodiversity in these systems.  “If we can’t offer species other than ourselves a chance, we’re just cooking our fates along similarly destructive paths” offered Berger. 

Associated partners and funders for this project were Colorado State University and the Wildlife Conservation Society, Glacier National Park Conservatory, Denver Zoological Society, Denver Mountain Parks, and Frederick Dulude-de Broin at LaVal University. 

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WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society)

MISSION: WCS saves wildlife and wild places worldwide through science, conservation action, education, and inspiring people to value nature. To achieve our mission, WCS, based at the Bronx Zoo, harnesses the power of its Global Conservation Program in nearly 60 nations and in all the world’s oceans and its five wildlife parks in New York City, visited by 4 million people annually. WCS combines its expertise in the field, zoos, and aquarium to achieve its conservation mission. Visit: newsroom.wcs.org Follow: @WCSNewsroom. For more information: 347-840-1242.

 

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JOURNAL

Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution

DOI

10.3389/fevo.2022.991714 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Species Conflict at Earth’s Edges – Contests, Climate, and Coveted Resources

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

17-Oct-2022

How do mushrooms become magic?

Research examines why some fungi evolve psychedelic properties

Grant and Award Announcement

UNIVERSITY OF PLYMOUTH

 

VIDEO: A TIMELAPSE VIDEO OF PSYCHEDELIC AND NON-PSYCHEDELIC FUNGI GROWING IN THE LAB view more 

CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF PLYMOUTH

Psychedelic compounds found in ‘magic mushrooms’ are increasingly being recognised for their potential to treat health conditions such as depression, anxiety, compulsive disorders and addiction.

However, very little is known about how such compounds have evolved and what role they play in the natural world.

To address that, scientists from the University of Plymouth are conducting a first-of-its-kind study using advanced genetic methods and behavioural experiments to address previously untested hypotheses into the origin of psychedelic compounds in fungi.

This includes exploring whether such traits have evolved as a form of defence against fungus-feeding invertebrates, or whether the fungi produce compounds that manipulate insect behaviour for their own advantage.

The project will particularly focus on psilocybin, commonly found in so-called ‘magic mushrooms’. In chemical terms, it is very similar to serotonin, which is involved in the sending of information between nerve cells in animals.

The researchers are sampling psychedelic and non-psychedelic fungi, and using next-generation DNA sequencing to test whether or not there is a diverse animal community feeding on psychedelic fungi.

They are also using laboratory tests to investigate fungal-insect interactions, and whether the fungi undergo genetic changes during attack and development. They will also investigate the effect of psilocybin on the growth of soil bacteria.

The research will also involve using cutting-edge gene editing technology to try and create mutant fungi that cannot synthesize psilocybin. It is hoped this will help researchers better understand the role of a wide range of fungal compounds in future.

The study is being led by a team of experienced researchers in molecular ecology, animal-plant interactions and fungal biology in the University’s School of Biological and Marine Sciences. Driving the study are Post-Doctoral Research Fellow Dr Kirsty Matthews Nicholass and Research Assistant Ms Ilona Flis.

Dr Jon Ellis, Lecturer in Conservation Genetics, is supervising the study. He said: “In recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in psychedelic compounds from a human health perspective. However, almost nothing is known about the evolution of these compounds in nature and why fungi should contain neurotransmitter-like compounds is unresolved.

“The hypotheses that have been suggested for their evolution have never been formally tested, and that is what makes our project so ambitious and novel. It could also in future lead to exciting future discoveries, as the development of novel compounds that could be used as fungicides, pesticides, pharmaceuticals and antibiotics is likely to arise from ‘blue-sky’ research investigating fungal defence.”

Dr Kirsty Matthews Nicholass said: “Within Psilocybe alone, there are close to 150 hallucinogenic species distributed across all continents except Antarctica. Yet, the fungal species in which these ‘magic’ compounds occur are not always closely related. This raises interesting questions regarding the ecological pressures that may be acting to maintain the biosynthesis pathway for psilocybin.”

The research is being funded by the Leverhulme Trust and builds on the University’s long-running expertise in novel elements of conservation genetics.

Researchers involved in this project have previously explored the genetic diversity among UK pollinators, the feeding preferences of slugs and snails, and developed an early warning system for plant disease.

 

Scientists are looking to address untested hypotheses into the

 origin of psychedelic compounds in fungi

The researchers have sampled psychedelic and non-psychedelic fungi

from the wild to explore a range of currently untested hypotheses

CREDIT

University of Plymouth

Dr Jon Ellis talks about the history of research into psychedelic compounds in nature

“Fungi generally receive less attention overall than animals and plants, partly because they are less apparent, people interact with them less and they can be hard to study. Historically, there have also been legal barriers which meant certain research has not previously been possible. Saying that, there were some very interesting studies in the 1940s and 50s into the use of LSD as a psychotherapeutic treatment for alcoholism and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Around that time, people also became interested in fungi from an anthropological perspective.

"One couple, the Wassons, went to Mexico and witnessed the ritual use of fungi for the first time in religious ceremonies. Articles they published brought public attention to psychoactive mushrooms. Around this time, there were also other charismatic individuals, such as Timothy Leary, who advocated the use of LSD more widely by the general public. In the 1960s, psychedelic compounds really came to widespread public attention and that ultimately led to governments introducing new laws to restrict their use.

"For some time, that also restricted the fundamental research that could be carried out. More recently, people have returned to that initial research and found that compounds such as psilocybin can have psychotherapeutic benefits. However, that has not addressed their evolution in nature, which is what makes the research we are doing so exciting.

"I hope our project can change the public perception of magic mushrooms. But beyond that, asking questions about the biological world is a fundamental part of our human nature and this project fits into a long narrative of research asking questions about biodiversity and its evolution.”

Economic losses from hurricanes become too big to be offset by the US if warming continues

Peer-Reviewed Publication

POTSDAM INSTITUTE FOR CLIMATE IMPACT RESEARCH (PIK)

“Tropical cyclones draw their energy from ocean surface heat. Also, warmer air can hold more water which eventually can get released in heavy rains and flooding that often occur when a hurricane makes landfall,” says Robin Middelanis from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and Potsdam University, lead author of the study. “It’s thus clear since long that hurricane damages will become bigger if we continue to heat up our Earth system.” While we might not have more hurricanes in the future, the strongest among them could get more devastating.

“Now, one of the important questions is: can we deal with that, economically? The answer is: not like this, we can’t,” says Middelanis. “Our calculations show, for the first time, that the US economy as one of the strongest on our planet, will eventually not be able to offset the losses in their supply chains on their own. Increasing hurricane damages will exceed the coping capacities of this economic super-power.

Local production losses propagate throughout supply chain networks

The scientists looked at the 2017 hurricane Harvey that hit Texas and Louisiana and already then cost the enormous sum of 125 billion US Dollars in direct damages alone, and computed what its impacts would be like under different levels of warming. Importantly, losses from local business interruption propagate through the national and global supply chain network, leading to additional indirect economic effects. In their simulations of over 7000 regional economic sectors with more than 1.8 million supply chain connections, the scientists find that the US national economy’s supply chains cannot compensate future local production losses from hurricanes if climate change continues.

“We investigated global warming levels of up to 5°C – which unfortunately might be reached by the end of our century if climate policy fails us,” says Anders Levermann, head of complexity science at PIK and scientist at New York’s Columbia University, a co-author of the study. “We do not want to quantify temperature thresholds for the limit of adaptation of the US economy’s national supply chains, since we feel there’s too much uncertainty involved. Yet we are certain that eventually the US economy’s supply chain capacities as they are now will not be enough if global warming continues. There is a limit of how much the US economy can take, we just don’t know exactly where it is.”

"Bad for people"

Ironically, in the case of hurricane Harvey it is in particular the oil and gas industry in Texas which suffers from the impacts of hurricanes driven by global warming – while global warming is in turn driven by the emissions from burning oil and gas, plus of course coal. The fossil fuel extraction sector is big in that region of the US, and it is vulnerable to cyclone damages. The computer simulations show that production losses in the fuel sector will be amongst those which will be most strongly compensated by countries like Canada and Norway, but also Venezuela and Indonesia, at the expense of the US economy.

“When things break and production fails locally, there’s always someone in the world who is happy to make money by selling the replacement goods,” says Levermann. “So why worry? Well, reduced production means increasing prices, and even if that means it’s good for some economies, it is generally bad for the consumers – the people. Also from a global economic perspective, shifts due to disrupted supply chains can mean that less efficient producers step in. It’s a pragmatic, straightforward conclusion that we need to avoid increasing greenhouse gas emissions which amplify this kind of disruptions.”

Article: Robin Middelanis, Sven N. Willner, Christian Otto, Anders Levermann (2022): Economic losses from hurricanes cannot be nationally offset under unabated warming. Environmental Research Letters [DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/ac90d8]

JOURNAL

Environmental Research Letters

DOI

10.1088/1748-9326/ac90d8 

ARTICLE TITLE

Economic losses from hurricanes cannot be nationally offset under unabated warming

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

17-Oct-2022

Telemedicine reduces odds of no-show clinic visits by more than two-thirds for surgical patients

The use of telehealth services is very effective at increasing access to healthcare in vulnerable populations undergoing a range of surgical procedures

Reports and Proceedings

AMERICAN COLLEGE OF SURGEONS

 

IMAGE: SURGICAL PATIENTS MORE LIKELY TO SHOW UP FOR CLINIC VISITS USING TELEMEDICINE view more 

CREDIT: AMERICAN COLLEGE OF SURGEONS

Key takeaways 

• Telemedicine significantly lowers likelihood of no-show clinic visits among surgical patients and follow-up care during the post-surgery period.   

• Telemedicine is a convenient tool that can help improve healthcare for all patients, successfully increasing access among vulnerable populations.  

SAN DIEGO: Surgical patients who use telehealth services are much more likely to show up for their initial clinic visit or follow-up appointment during the post-surgery period than those who rely on in-person visits only. Research findings were presented at the Scientific Forum of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Clinical Congress 2022. During the early months of the COVID pandemic, when everything shut down, telemedicine became an effective tool to reach patients. Building on those successes, more hospitals and clinics are implementing telehealth technology into their patient care practices.  

Telehealth consists of an at-home interactive video and audio telecommunications system, allowing real-time connection between patients, nurses, and doctors. One major benefit to patients is that they avoid the trouble of travel to and from an appointment at a distant hospital or clinic. 

“Low access to transportation is the number one reason for patient no-show visits.* Telemedicine is a feasible way for us to reach out to patients who would otherwise have a lot of barriers to access the healthcare system,” said lead study author Connie Shao, MD, a general surgery resident at the University of Alabama Birmingham.  

“Maintaining routine healthcare such as clinic visits helps prevent emergent visits, which are typically at a point in time when a patient’s condition is much worse. Staying engaged with the healthcare system with timely care before and after surgery improves quality care, reduces costs for the patient, and helps ensure our patients are able to maintain a higher level of health.”  

Even so, little is known about telemedicine use among surgical patients. 

About the study  

For this analysis, researchers evaluated the association between telemedicine use and patient no-show visits. They looked at data collected from seven clinics at the University of Alabama Birmingham among a diverse population of patients, with an average age of 60, undergoing all types of surgery between January 2018 and December 2021. 

Researchers divided the patients into three categories:  

1. a historical control of in-person visits from January 2018 to March 2020 

2. a contemporary control of in-person visits from March 2020 to December 2021 

3. a contemporary group of patients scheduled for telemedicine visits between March 2020 to December 2021  

March 2020 was the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and, with that, a ramping up of telemedicine appointments. The three groups were compared for no-show visits.  

Key findings 

• Of the 553,475 total visits, 11.3% were no-shows. 

• Most clinic visits were in the historical control (54.1%), compared with contemporary control (41.5%), and telemedicine visits—which included audio only and video (4.4%  for both types). 

• The no-show rate was highest among in-person appointments (11.7%) compared to telemedicine visits (2.5%). 

• Telemedicine was effective at reducing no-show visits. Of the small group of telemedicine visits, a multivariable adjusted analysis found a reduction in odds by 79% of no-show visits.  

• No-show visits were also less common among older patients, those insured with Medicare, and the historical in-person visits from January 2018 to March 2020, compared with the contemporary in-person visits from March 2020 to December 2021.  

• Disparities in no-show visits exist. For all visits, male patients were 12% more likely to not complete the appointments than women. Black patients, compared with white patients, were 68% more likely to be no-shows, and Asian patients were 32% more likely to be no-shows.  

• Compared with private insurance, Medicaid patients were twice as likely to not complete the appointment. And patients from counties with a higher Social Vulnerability Index were 13% more likely to not complete the appointment. 

Addressing the digital divide for patients  

“Hopefully with the convenience of telemedicine now, the only bridge that we have to cross is the digital divide. We’ve partnered with a grassroots community program to train people in our community, especially older and more vulnerable people, on how to use telemedicine,” Dr. Shao said. “We can help keep these patients engaged in the healthcare system without having to take up their entire day to come and see us in the hospital.” 

Giving all patients the option to use telehealth services may be of great benefit to surgical patients in the future. Dr. Shao is also developing best practice guidelines for the use of telemedicine for different surgical specialties during the post-surgery period.  

“Telemedicine interventions such as training patients and offering more low-tech options, such as audio only, especially for patients who live far away, is an easier option. Some care is better than no care. And it’s far better for us to get some information at a telemedicine visit to take care of our patients in a timely interval than to wait to see the patient later on when they are sicker and have to be admitted to a hospital,” Dr. Shao said. “There is a time and place to use telemedicine. It certainly is an intervention worth considering to reduce no-show visits and to improve quality care across the board.” 

The main limitation of the study is that the populations that are using telehealth technology are more likely, in general, to show up for a clinic visit (patients with better health literacy and access to the healthcare system disproportionately benefit from telemedicine).  Future studies that incorporate telemedicine training into patient visits will eliminate this confounding.  

The study was supported by the ACS and the University of Alabama Birmingham Health Services and Outcomes Research Group.  

Study coauthors are Marshall C. McLeod, PhD; Andy Hare, BS; Isabel C. Marques, MD; Lauren Gleason, MD, MSPH; Burkely P. Smith, MD; Eric L. Wallace, MD, FACS; and Daniel I. Chu, MD, FACS.   

Citation: Shao C, et al. Telemedicine Associated with Decreased No-show Visits among Surgical Specialties, Scientific Forum, American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress 2022.    

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* Mieloszyk RJ, Rosenbaum JI, Hall CS, et al. Environmental Factors Predictive of No-Show Visits in Radiology: Observations of Three Million Outpatient Imaging Visits Over 16 Years, J Am Coll Radiol, 2016; 16 (4,B) 554-559.  

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About the American College of Surgeons 
The American College of Surgeons is a scientific and educational organization of surgeons that was founded in 1913 to raise the standards of surgical practice and improve the quality of care for all surgical patients. The College is dedicated to the ethical and competent practice of surgery. Its achievements have significantly influenced the course of scientific surgery in America and have established it as an important advocate for all surgical patients. The College has more than 84,000 members and is the largest organization of surgeons in the world. "FACS" designates that a surgeon is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons.