MSU research shows plants could worsen air pollution on a warming planet

Peer-Reviewed Publication

MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY

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Highlights:

• New Michigan State University research published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that plants such as oak and poplar trees will emit more of a compound called isoprene as global temperatures climb.
• Isoprene from plants represents the highest flux of hydrocarbons to the atmosphere behind methane.
• Although isoprene isn’t inherently bad — it actually helps plants better tolerate insect pests and high temperatures — it can worsen air pollution by reacting with nitrogen oxides from automobiles and coal-fired power plants.
• The new publication can help us better understand, predict and potentially mitigate the effects of increased isoprene emission as the planet warms.

It’s a simple question that sounds a little like a modest proposal.

“Should we cut down all the oak trees?” asked Tom Sharkey, a University Distinguished Professor in the Plant Resilience Institute at Michigan State University.

Sharkey also works at the MSU-Department of Energy Plant Research Laboratory and in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

To be clear, Sharkey wasn’t sincerely suggesting that we should cut down all the oaks. Still, his question was an earnest one, prompted by his team’s latest research, which was published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The team discovered that, on a warming planet, plants like oaks and poplars will emit more of a compound that exacerbates poor air quality, contributing to problematic particulate matter and low-atmosphere ozone.

The rub is that the same compound, called isoprene, can also improve the quality of clean air while making plants more resistant to stressors including insects and high temperatures.

“Do we want plants to make more isoprene so they’re more resilient, or do we want them making less so it’s not making air pollution worse? What’s the right balance?” Sharkey asked. “Those are really the fundamental questions driving this work. The more we understand, the more effectively we can answer them.”

Spotlight on isoprene

Sharkey has been studying isoprene and how plants produce it since the 1970s, when he was a doctoral student at Michigan State.

Isoprene from plants is the second-highest emitted hydrocarbon on Earth, only behind methane emissions from human activity. Yet most people have never heard of it, Sharkey said.

“It’s been behind the scenes for a long time, but it’s incredibly important,” Sharkey said.

It gained a little notoriety in the 1980s, when then-president Ronald Reagan falsely claimed trees were producing more air pollution than automobiles. Yet there was a kernel of truth in that assertion.

Isoprene interacts with nitrogen oxide compounds found in air pollution produced by coal-fired power plants and internal combustion engines in vehicles. These reactions create ozone, aerosols and other byproducts that are unhealthy for both humans and plants.

“There’s this interesting phenomenon where you have air moving across a city landscape, picking up nitrogen oxides, then moving over a forest to give you this toxic brew,” Sharkey said. “The air quality downwind of a city is often worse than the air quality in the city itself.”

Now, with support from the National Science Foundation, Sharkey and his team are working to better understand the biomolecular processes plants use to make isoprene. The researchers are particularly interested in how those processes are affected by the environment, especially in the face of climate change.

Prior to the team’s new publication, researchers understood that certain plants produce isoprene as they carry out photosynthesis. They also knew the changes that the planet is facing were having competing effects on isoprene production.

That is, increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere drives the rate down, while increasing temperatures accelerate the rate. One of the questions behind the MSU team’s new publication was essentially which one of these effects will win out.

“We were looking for a regulation point in the isoprene’s biosynthesis pathway under high carbon dioxide,” said Abira Sahu, the lead author of the new report and a postdoctoral research associate in Sharkey’s research group.

“Scientists have been trying to find this for a long time,” Sahu said. “And, finally, we have the answer.”

“For the biologists out there, the crux of the paper is that we identified the specific reaction slowed by carbon dioxide, CO2,” Sharkey said.

“With that, we can say the temperature effect trumps the CO2 effect,” he said. “By the time you’re at 95 degrees Fahrenheit — 35 degrees Celsius — there’s basically no CO2 suppression. Isoprene is pouring out like crazy.”

In their experiments, which used poplar plants, the team also found that when a leaf experienced warming of 10 degrees Celsius, its isoprene emission increased more than tenfold, Sahu said.

“Working with Tom, you realize plants really do emit a lot of isoprene,” said Mohammad Mostofa, an assistant professor who works in Sharkey’s lab and was another author of the new report.

The discovery will help researchers better anticipate how much isoprene plants will emit in the future and better prepare for the impacts of that. But the researchers also hope it can help inform the choices people and communities make in the meantime.

“We could be doing a better job,” Mostofa said.

At a place like MSU, which is home to more than 20,000 trees, that could mean planting fewer oaks in the future to limit isoprene emissions.

As for what we do about the trees already emitting isoprene, Sharkey does have an idea that doesn’t involve cutting them down.

“My suggestion is that we should do a better job controlling nitrogen oxide pollution,” Sharkey said.

Sarathi Weraduwage, a former postdoctoral researcher in Sharkey’s lab who is now an assistant professor at Bishop’s University in Quebec, also contributed to the research.

By Matt Davenport

Read on MSUToday.

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For MSU news on the Web, go to MSUToday. Follow MSU News on Twitter at twitter.com/MSUnews.

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JOURNAL

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI

10.1073/pnas.2309536120 

ARTICLE TITLE

Hydroxymethylbutenyl diphosphate accumulation reveals MEP pathway regulation for high CO2-induced suppression of isoprene emission

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

5-Oct-2023

 

Atmospheric research in the Atlantic to be expanded

Presidents lay the foundation for new laboratory building on Cabo Verde

Business Announcement

LEIBNIZ INSTITUTE FOR TROPOSPHERIC RESEARCH (TROPOS)

 

IMAGE: 

TO COMMEMORATE THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATIONFOR THE NEW CVAO LABORATORY BUILDING, FEDERAL PRESIDENT FRANK-WALTER STEINMEIER AND THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF CABO VERDE JOSÉ MARIA NEVES UNVEILED A MEMORIAL PLAQUE. (FROM LEFT TO RIGHT)

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CREDIT: EDSON SILVA DELGADO, GEOMAR

Mindelo/Leipzig. The international Cape Verde Atmospheric Observatory (CVAO) is being further expanded: The President of the Republic of Cabo Verde José Maria Neves and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier laid the foundation for a new laboratory building on São Vicente, one of the Cape Verde Islands off Africa, on Thursday. The island in the tropical Atlantic has become an international focal point of climate research in recent years. The atmospheric observatory has therefore now become part of the European research infrastructure ACTRIS. It is jointly operated by a consortium of the Cape Verde Institute for Meteorology and Geophysics (INMG), the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS) in Leipzig, the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Jena (MPI-BGC) and the University of York in the UK. The investments in new rooms and technology are being funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research with over 3 million euros as part of Germany's ACTRIS-D contribution. Germany is thus greatly intensifying its research cooperation with the Republic of Cabo Verde and providing important data from a key region of global climate change.

President Steinmeier had afterwards visited the Ocean Science Centre Mindelo (OSCM), which is operated by the German GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel together with the Cape Verdean Instituto do Mar, and inaugurated a TROPOS measuring station for remote sensing of the atmosphere there. Steinmeier's visit is the first state visit by a German President to the Republic of Cabo Verde, which consists of ten islands in the Atlantic Ocean and has around half a million inhabitants. Climate change and the research of the Helmholtz Association, the Leibniz Association, the Max Planck Society and various universities on the subject are a focus of the three-day trip.

 

"Cabo Verde is ‘on the frontline of the climate crisis’", as UN Secretary-General Guterres put it earlier this year during his visit on the occasion of the Ocean Race Summit. “The island states are vulnerable in different ways, but they are united in their vulnerability. The people here in Cabo Verde are therefore not fighting alone on the frontline of the climate crisis, but are looking for allies. Not suffering, but tackling: That is the attitude with which we must face this human task, and your example can encourage us all!" said German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to Cabo Verde's National Assembly before meeting scientists from Cabo Verde and Germany who are researching how climate change is altering the ocean and the atmosphere. Cabo Verde's location in the tropical Atlantic makes it particularly interesting for international atmospheric and climate research: the islands lie in the zone of the northeast trade wind, which regularly transports Saharan dust from northwest Africa across the Atlantic to the Caribbean and South America. The Cape Verde Islands are located in the tropical Atlantic Ocean, about 800 kilometres from the western tip of the African continent and over 3000 kilometres from the nearest tropical ocean islands. The Republic of Cabo Verde, which has been independent since 1975, is now one of the most stable and prosperous countries in Africa.

 

In 2006, researchers from Germany and Great Britain founded the Cabo Verde Atmospheric Observatory (CVAO) together with local partners. Its location on a cliff near Calhau on the north-eastern tip of the island of São Vicente is a good reflection of the atmospheric situation on the Atlantic, as the air there usually comes from the ocean in the north-east and so local emissions play practically no role. At the centre of the measurements is a 30 mhigh tower, which was built in 2010 with funding from the Leibniz Association under the leadership of TROPOS together with the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry. Its height enables measurements of the atmosphere without being directly affected by the spray from the coastal surf. The tower was built from German oak  because wood proved to be more durable than metal, which corrodes quickly due to the high salt content of the air.

 

The CVAO is part of a long-term measurement programme in the tropical North Atlantic and is one of the 32 most important atmospheric stations in the Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) programme of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Jena (MPI-BGC) measures greenhouse gases such as methane, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide at the CVAO. The CVAO has a similar significance for international climate research as, for example, prominent stations on the Zugspitze in the Alps, Mauna Loa in Hawaii, Neumayer-III in Antarctica or the ATTO tower in the Amazon. In addition to these global networks, the Cabo Verde Atmospheric Observatory is now also part of the European network ACTRIS (Aerosol, Clouds and Trace Gases Research Infrastructure), the largest multi-site infrastructure for atmospheric research worldwide. A total of 11 universities, research institutes and authorities are involved in the German ACTRIS contribution (ACTRIS-D), which is coordinated by TROPOS. The construction of the German calibration centres, observation stations, atmospheric simulation chambers and mobile measurement platforms planned until 2029 is being funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) with a total of 86 million euros over a span of eight years. Of this, around 3 million euros will be invested in Calhau and Mindelo to significantly expand the CVAO.

 

"Until now, the equipment in Calhau was housed in containers. Now a permanent laboratory building will be added, as well as a photovoltaic system that will guarantee an uninterrupted, reliable power supply. The existing in-situ measurements of aerosols will be expanded and modernised: New equipment can measure the light scattering of particles, the chemical composition and the content of trace metals as well as cloud condensation nuclei in real time. In the future, the automation of aerosol and cloud water samples  will ensure that the data is available much faster than before," explains Prof. Hartmut Herrmann from TROPOS, the scientific director of the CVAO and the Atmospheric Chemistry Department (ACD) of TROPOS. "The new laboratory building for the CVAO will significantly improve the investigation possibilities for dust and marine aerosol particles. The CVAO will thus be strengthened and attractive for guest users. Through the construction measures, we are supporting the local economy and, with its use, local academic education."

 

The in-situ measurements in Calhau are now complemented by measurements in Mindelo: On the roof of the Ocean Science Centre Mindelo (OSCM), a remote sensing station was built in cooperation with the German GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel and the Cape Verdean Instituto do Mar, which investigates particles in the atmosphere up to a height of 30 kilometres. For this purpose, a lidar device developed by TROPOS was installed in 2021, whose laser has already made an important contribution to the validation of the ESA wind satellite Aeolus. The lidar was supplemented in 2023 by instruments for remote cloud sensing: a microwave radiometer, a wind lidar and a cloud radar. Likewise, instruments for measuring solar and thermal radiative fluxes were installed to determine the influence of aerosols and clouds on the radiative forcing of the atmosphere and ocean. With these additions, this ACTRIS station is now complete and officially began operations for the visit of the German President on October 5, 2023. "The station will also serve as a reference station for the Earth observation satellite EarthCARE, which the European ESA and the Japanese JAXA plan to launch in 2024 to study aerosols and clouds and their influence on radiation in the Earth's atmosphere. The expansion of the Cabo Verde Atmospheric Observatory follows the strategic goals of TROPOS to record and ultimately understand the complex processes of the atmosphere on a long time-scale. Cooperation with GEOMAR's ocean research will play an important role in this," explains Prof. Andreas Macke, Director of TROPOS and Head of the Remote Sensing Department.

 

São Vicente, with the Ocean Science Centre Mindelo (OSCM) and the Cabo Verde Atmospheric Observatory (CVAO), is a prime example of international cooperation in atmospheric and climate research: here, marine and atmospheric research work hand in hand, as well as three non-university research communities - Helmholtz, Leibniz and Max Planck. The researchers come to Cabo Verde from a wide variety of countries - above all from Germany and Great Britain, but also from the USA and China.

 

This cooperation benefits not only international climate research and the entire global community through improved climate forecasts, but also the local population: In the DUSTRISK project, researchers from various Leibniz institutes are working together with institutions from Cabo Verde to investigate the effects of desert dust on health. The aim is to establish a warning system that can help to better protect the population. Together with TROPOS, the environmental authority Direção Nacional do Ambiente (DNA) and the weather service Instituto Nacional de Meteorologia e Geofísica (INMG) want to set up a network to monitor air quality.

Both presidents climbed the 30 meter high tower, which was built in 2010 with funds from the Leibniz Association under the leadership of TROPOS together with the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry and is the core of the observatory.

Cabo Verde in the tropical Atlantic has developed into an international hotspot for climate research in recent years. The observatory is located on a cliff on the north-eastern tip of the island of São Vicente and provides a good reflection of the atmospheric situation on the Atlantic.

The two presidents also visited the Ocean Science Center Mindelo (OSCM), which is operated by the German GEOMAR Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research Kiel together with the Cape Verdean Instituto do Mar, and inaugurated a new TROPOS measuring station on the roof for remote sensing of the atmosphere.

CREDIT

Edson Silva Delgado, GEOMAR

 

Integrated chronic care in Africa can improve outcomes and save money

A cost saving option for chronic care in Africa

Peer-Reviewed Publication

LA TROBE UNIVERSITY

 

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CLINIC WHERE RESEARCH CONDUCTED

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CREDIT: SUPPLIED BY RESEARCHERS

Across Africa about two million premature deaths each year are caused by the effects of diabetes and hypertension.

In contrast, most people living with HIV are in regular care and virally suppressed, and HIV mortality rates have fallen five-fold since their peak of 2 million deaths annually in the early 2000s to less than 500,000 in 2022.

Dr Josephine Birungi, a co-author and Graduate Researcher-Public Health at La Trobe University, said that the similarities in chronic disease management of HIV and other chronic conditions should make integrated clinics beneficial.

“The only difference is the medicine they take. We’re seeing diabetes and hypertension increasing across Africa, causing more deaths than HIV,” Dr Birungi said.

The INTE-Africa study enrolled 7,028 adult patients, 3032 had diabetes alone, hypertension alone or both, and 3365 had HIV alone.

“Retention rates in the integrated care arm were close to 90% which is a historic achievement in primary care across Africa. And, most importantly, integration did not compromise the rates of viral suppression among people living with HIV.”

The average monthly provider cost per participant was lower in the integrated care arm for participants with multiple conditions.

Savings were driven by reduced staffing and overhead costs associated with reduced number of total visits required by patients with multiple morbidities.

Another finding highlighted by the authors was that integrating care did not increase stigma towards HIV-positive patients as was initially feared.

One patient in Uganda said, “I have no problem with it because, we are all sick. Me, I’m very comfortable. You can’t know about the disease unless the person has told you what they are suffering from, we are all sick…”

Dr Meg Doherty, Director of the World Health Organisation Department of Global HIV, Hepatitis and STI Programmes said “This was a large ambitious and well-conducted study with the potential to change policy and practice. It is the first study to test successfully the concept of a fully integrated one-stop clinic for people with HIV or non-communicable conditions, with excellent HIV and NCD outcomes. It is exciting to see that by including hypertension and diabetes screening and care into the HIV clinic in these 2 countries, there was no change in HIV viral load suppression outcomes.”

The burden of chronic conditions and multi-morbidity continues to increase in Africa. This study provides a blueprint for re-organising health system to meet demand and to maximise the use of limited resources.

Participating institutions were from Tanzania, Uganda, United Kingdom and Europe, with the MRC/UVRI/LSHTM Research Unit and The AIDS Support Organisation (TASO) as leads in Uganda, the National Institute for Medical Research (NMRI) in Tanzania, and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) and the University College of London (UCL) Institute for Global Health in United Kingdom.

Across Africa about two million premature deaths each year are caused by the effects of diabetes and hypertension.

In contrast, most people living with HIV are in regular care and virally suppressed, and HIV mortality rates have fallen five-fold since their peak of 2 million deaths annually in the early 2000s to less than 500,000 in 2022.

Dr Josephine Birungi, a co-author and Graduate Researcher-Public Health at La Trobe University, said that the similarities in chronic disease management of HIV and other chronic conditions should make integrated clinics beneficial.

“The only difference is the medicine they take. We’re seeing diabetes and hypertension increasing across Africa, causing more deaths than HIV,” Dr Birungi said.

The INTE-Africa study enrolled 7,028 adult patients, 3032 had diabetes alone, hypertension alone or both, and 3365 had HIV alone.

“Retention rates in the integrated care arm were close to 90% which is a historic achievement in primary care across Africa. And, most importantly, integration did not compromise the rates of viral suppression among people living with HIV.”

The average monthly provider cost per participant was lower in the integrated care arm for participants with multiple conditions.

Savings were driven by reduced staffing and overhead costs associated with reduced number of total visits required by patients with multiple morbidities.

Another finding highlighted by the authors was that integrating care did not increase stigma towards HIV-positive patients as was initially feared.

One patient in Uganda said, “I have no problem with it because, we are all sick. Me, I’m very comfortable. You can’t know about the disease unless the person has told you what they are suffering from, we are all sick…”

Dr Meg Doherty, Director of the World Health Organisation Department of Global HIV, Hepatitis and STI Programmes said “This was a large ambitious and well-conducted study with the potential to change policy and practice. It is the first study to test successfully the concept of a fully integrated one-stop clinic for people with HIV or non-communicable conditions, with excellent HIV and NCD outcomes. It is exciting to see that by including hypertension and diabetes screening and care into the HIV clinic in these 2 countries, there was no change in HIV viral load suppression outcomes.”

The burden of chronic conditions and multi-morbidity continues to increase in Africa. This study provides a blueprint for re-organising health system to meet demand and to maximise the use of limited resources.

Participating institutions were from Tanzania, Uganda, United Kingdom and Europe, with the MRC/UVRI/LSHTM Research Unit and The AIDS Support Organisation (TASO) as leads in Uganda, the National Institute for Medical Research (NMRI) in Tanzania, and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) and the University College of London (UCL) Institute for Global Health in United Kingdom.

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JOURNAL

The Lancet

DOI

10.1016/S0140-6736(23)01573-8 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Integrated management of HIV, diabetes, and hypertension in sub-Saharan Africa (INTE-AFRICA): a pragmatic cluster-randomised, controlled trial

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

6-Oct-2023

 

Deciphering the intensity of past ocean currents

New publication: Researchers simulate past ocean conditions in flume-tank experiments

Peer-Reviewed Publication

MARUM - CENTER FOR MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES, UNIVERSITY OF BREMEN

 

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IN THE 6X11 METER FLUME TANK, AN ARTIFICIAL CONTINENTAL SLOPE WAS RECREATED BY HAND. THE CIRCULAR PHOTO SHOWS FIRST AUTHOR HENRIETTE WILCKENS FORMING THE SLOPE FROM SEDIMENT. THE WATER-FILLED TANK CAN BE SEEN IN THE BACKGROUND. PHOTO MONTAGE: MARUM – CENTER FOR MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES, UNIVERSITY OF BREMEN, E. MIRAMONTES

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CREDIT: PHOTO MONTAGE: MARUM – CENTER FOR MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES, UNIVERSITY OF BREMEN, E. MIRAMONTES

Details of past climate conditions are revealed to researchers not only by sediment samples from the ocean floor, but also by the surface of the seafloor, which is exposed to currents that are constantly altering it. Deposits shaped by near-bottom currents are called contourites. These sediment deposits contain information about past ocean conditions as well as clues to climate. Contourites are often found on continental slopes or around deep-sea mountains. But they can be found in any environment where strong currents occur near the seafloor. The mechanisms that control them are not yet well understood. Experiments in flume tanks will help to change this through the depiction of deposition in future models.

Detailed observations of changes in flume-tank experiments

Henriette Wilckens, first author of the newly published study, created a replica of the continental slope in a special flume tank at the University of Utrecht (Netherlands). Currents and sediment input in the flume tank were simulated using pumps and monitored with a current meter. The formation and development of the sediment deposits were measured with a laser scanner. All the data obtained were compared to measurements in natural ocean systems in order to validate the results of the experiments.

“The internal sediment architecture of contourites can be observed from seismic data, but in order to unlock information about the past ocean currents we need a better understanding of how they developed and the factors that influence the contourite systems,” explains Wilckens. While it is impossible to directly see how natural marine systems that developed over time periods of thousands to millions of years started to form on the seafloor, scientists can employ flume-tank experiments to directly observe detailed changes of the seafloor morphology and control their related current velocities.

Huge application potential of the models

“Our experiment can also be applied to the entire deep sea and even to lakes,” says Henriette Wilckens, meaning anywhere in the deep sea where there is a slope, terraces, deep-sea mountains or, for example, cold-water coral mounds.

It is also conceivable that the models could be applied, for example, to improve predictions of how currents transport microplastic particles or other pollutants in the ocean. “The potential for its application,” says Wilckens, “is immense. The system must first be understood before it is possible to derive information from it.”

Opening a new branch of research

“This research work is an important step toward a better understanding of the ways in which ocean currents control the deposition of particles in the seafloor, which has important implications for paleoceanographic reconstructions and benthic ecology. This introduces a new branch of research that will probably lead to even more exciting discoveries,” according to Elda Miramontes, co-author of the study and head of the “Sedimentology” working group at MARUM.

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JOURNAL

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s43247-023-00978-0 

ARTICLE TITLE

Secondary flow in contour currents controls the formation of moat-drift contourite systems

 

How bacteria can organize themselves

A new model demonstrates that chasing interactions can induce dynamical patterns in the organization of bacterial species

Peer-Reviewed Publication

MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE FOR DYNAMICS AND SELF-ORGANIZATION

 

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DEPENDING ON THE CHASE-AND-AVOID INTERACTION BETWEEN TWO SPECIES, A AND B, DIFFERENT PATTERNS OF SELF-ORGANIZATION CAN EVOLVE ON THE GLOBAL LEVEL

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CREDIT: MPI-DS / LMP

In a recent study, scientists from the department Living Matter Physics at MPI-DS developed a model describing communication pathways in bacterial populations. Bacteria show an overall organizational pattern by sensing the concentration of chemicals in their environment and adapting their motion.

The structure only becomes visible on a higher level

“We modeled the non-reciprocal interaction between two bacterial species”, first author Yu Duan explains. “This means that species A is chasing species B, whereas B is aiming to repel from A”, he continues. The researchers found, that just this chase-and-avoid interaction is sufficient to form a structural pattern. The type of the resulting pattern depends on the strength of the interaction. This complements a previous study, where a model was proposed that also included intraspecies interactions of the bacteria in order to form a pattern.

In this new model, which also includes the effect of bacterial motility, neither adhesion nor alignment are required to form complex super-structures encompassing millions of individuals. “Although the bacterial population dynamics show a global order, this is not the case on the individual bacterial level. In particular, a single bacterium seems to move in a disordered way, with the structure becoming visible only on a higher level, which is very fascinating”, summarizes Benoît Mahault, group leader in the department Living Matter Physics at MPI-DS.

A general model for collective behavior

The model also allows to consider more than two species, increasing the amount of possible interactions and emerging patterns. Notably, it is also not limited to bacteria but can be applied to a variety of collective behaviors. These include light-controlled microswimmers, social insects, animal groups and robotic swarms. The study therefore provides general insights on the mechanisms responsible for the formation of large-scale structures in networks with many components.

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JOURNAL

Physical Review Letters

DOI

10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.148301 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Computational simulation/modeling

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Cells

ARTICLE TITLE

Dynamical Pattern Formation without Self-Attraction in Quorum-Sensing Active Matter: The Interplay between Nonreciprocity and Motility

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

6-Oct-2023

 

Lack of sexually related injuries does not mean rape victim was ‘making it up’

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM

The absence of sexually related injuries cannot be used in court to infer that rape victims are ‘making it up’, a new study reveals.

Experts analysed the last 30 years of published medical research to compare anogenital injury (AGI) in women who had been raped with those who had engaged in consensual sex.

Examining data from more than 3,000 women, they found that more than half of rape survivors had no detectable injuries, even when examined by experts using forensic dyes and magnification techniques, whilst detectable anogenital injury could be found in 30% of consenting women.

Publishing their findings today (6 Oct) in eClinicalMedicine, researchers from the University of Birmingham and UK National Health Service specialists in Glasgow, Liverpool and Bristol conclude that absence of AGI is neither proof of consent nor disproof of penetration.

Co-author Dr David Naumann, from the University of Birmingham, commented: “Women may not disclose rape in the false belief that they won’t be able to prove assault if there are no injuries to their genital area. The presence or absence of anogenital injury may also influence law enforcement officers and jurors in the way they perceive the alleged assault.

“Our study provides definitive evidence that absence of injury cannot be used in court to infer that rape did not occur and victims are ‘making it up’. We hope our findings help to directly challenge rape myths and empower survivors to report their assault and bring the perpetrators to justice. The absence of AGI is neither proof of consent nor disproof of penetration.”

The systematic review demonstrates that although AGI is significantly more likely following sexual assault (48% SA vs 31% CSI), both groups have a combination of detected AGI and absence of AGI.

Physical examination findings for women following sexual assault may be used in court as forensic evidence. Based on these data, there is no case for discrediting allegations of rape based on intimate physical examination alone.

The 2030 UN Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by member countries in 2015, calls for the elimination of violence against women and girls. However, according to UK Government figures, in 2019/2020, only 4% of sexual offences, and 2% of rape offences led to alleged perpetrators being charged or summonsed in the same year.

A significant proportion of these cases are recorded by police as being closed with the outcome “evidential difficulties, victim does not support action” - indicating that the rape survivor withdrew from the process.

Dr Naumann added: “Numerous myths reinforce cultural attitudes towards reporting of sexual violence. One such myth anticipates physical violence, and thus injury, to be an inevitable accompaniment to rape. Sexual predators use different strategies, such as the threat of physical force, which reduce the likelihood of AGI.

“If we wish to support rape survivors, the clinical community must send an unambiguous, evidence-based message to ensure that rape myths are fully challenged. This will help survivors have increased confidence that the criminal justice system will support them in their disclosure and reporting of sexual violence.”

ENDS

For more information, contact Tony Moran, International Communications Manager or call +44 (0)7827 832312 email t.moran@bham.ac.uk or pressoffice@contacts.bham.ac.uk

Notes for editors

• The University of Birmingham is ranked amongst the world’s top institutions, its work brings people from across the world to Birmingham, including researchers and teachers and more than 8,000 international students from over 150 countries.
• ‘Anogenital injuries following non-consensual and consensual penetrative intercourse: a systematic review and meta-analysis’ - David N Naumann, Louise Morris, Douglas Bowley, Tracy-Louise Appleyard, Julie Cumming, and Deborah Wardle is published in eClinicalMedicine.
• Participating institutions include: University of Birmingham, UK; Department of Trauma and Emergency General Surgery, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, UK; Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, Liverpool, UK; North Bristol NHS Trust, Southmead Hospital, UK; and NHS Education for Scotland, Glasgow, UK.

 

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JOURNAL

EClinicalMedicine

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Meta-analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

5-Oct-2023

 

Thalamus regulates adaptability of the adult brain

Peer-Reviewed Publication

NETHERLANDS INSTITUTE FOR NEUROSCIENCE - KNAW

 

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INFOGRAPHIC - THALAMUS REGULATES ADAPTABILITY OF THE ADULT BRAIN

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CREDIT: ELINE FEENSTRA - NETHERLANDS INSTITUTE FOR NEUROSCIENCE

It is generally believed that the adaptability of the adult brain mainly takes place in the cortex. However, a new study from the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience shows that the thalamus, a relay station for incoming motor and sensory information, plays an unexpectedly important role in this process. “This could be an interesting starting point for various therapies,” says Christiaan Levelt. 

Learning new things requires a tremendous capacity of our brains. The adaptation of our brain as a result of new experiences is called plasticity. There are periods during our development when neural networks show a lot of plasticity, known as critical periods. But also the adult brain is capable of adapting.  Where this plasticity takes place in adult brain is not well understood.

To gain more insight into this question, Yi Qin and his colleagues, under the supervision of Christiaan Levelt, examined the visual system of mice. This is a popular model for studying plasticity due to its ease of manipulation. Visual information reaches the thalamus through the retina. This brain nucleus then transmits processed information to the visual cortex and vice versa. An experiment in mice can clearly demonstrate how well the adult brain is able to adapt. When one eye of the mouse is occluded for several days, the visual cortex starts to respond less effectively to the closed eye and better to the open eye. How this is precisely regulated has been unclear for a long time. But these new results bring an important player to the forefront: the thalamus.

New Perspective

Christiaan Levelt: “Five years ago, we discovered that the thalamus plays a crucial role in the plasticity of the visual cortex during critical periods of development. This has changed our perspective on how this whole system works. We all thought that this process was regulated by the visual cortex, but it turned out not to be the whole story. We found out by removing a very specific component, the GABA-alpha 1 subunit, in the thalamus of mice during their critical period for vision. This component is responsible for inhibiting the thalamus, so its removal resulted in reduced inhibition. When we closed one eye in these mice, the shift in responses no longer occurred. Because the adult brain uses different plasticity mechanisms than the developing brain, an important question was whether adaptation in the adult visual system also involved the thalamus”.

Yi Qin: “In the current study, we performed the same experiment in adult mice and observed similar results. We observed that plasticity also took place in the adult thalamus, but disappeared when we removed the alpha-1 subunit. Consequently, there was no longer a shift in the cortex either. Since we know that the visual cortex also sends information back to the thalamus through a feedback mechanism, we were curious if the visual cortex also plays a role in plasticity of the thalamus. We investigated this by reversing the experiment and shutting down the visual cortex. What happens to the shift in responses in the thalamus then? In adult animals, we did not see any difference: the shift persisted. However, in animals during their critical period, we observed that when we shut down the visual cortex, the shift reverted back in the thalamus. So, at a young age, plasticity in the thalamus and cortex influence each other much more, while in the adult brain, the thalamus is particularly important for plasticity in the cortex but not the other way around.”

Involved in many processes

Levelt continues: “Plasticity is important in many processes. We are currently focusing on sensory plasticity (vision), but plasticity is also fundamental for memory and other functions. These new insights could be relevant, for example, in understanding learning disabilities. It is possible that the origin of these problems lies in the thalamus rather than the cortex. Therefore, a different approach is needed. Instead of solely looking at the cortex, we should also consider the thalamus when it comes to therapies and the pathogenesis of these issues. This is an important new interpretation.”

Qin: “Even in the case of lazy eye, it is assumed to be a problem of the cortex, but it could also involve the thalamus. In Europe, we test for the presence of lazy eye from a young age. This condition can be corrected during the critical period by temporarily patching the ‘good eye,’ which strengthens the connections to the weaker eye. In the US, for example, this is not routinely checked at a young age, resulting in more people carrying a lazy eye into adulthood. Since the critical period has already passed for them, it becomes more challenging to treat these individuals. Our study provides a hint that we need to look beyond the cortex, which can provide guidance for a new treatment strategy.”

Source: eLife 

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JOURNAL

eLife

DOI

10.7554/eLife.88124.2 

ARTICLE TITLE

Thalamic regulation of ocular dominance plasticity in adult visual cortex

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

6-Oct-2023