Nemours Children’s Health researchers find Zika virus is effective when used to treat a type of childhood cancer in mice

In models of neuroblastoma, Zika injection dramatically improved survival

Peer-Reviewed Publication

NEMOURS

ORLANDO, Fla. (Jan. 9, 2024) — Injecting neuroblastoma tumors with Zika virus shrank or eliminated those tumors in studies with mice, suggesting that the virus could someday serve as an effective cancer therapy, according to a study led by Nemours Children’s Health researchers and published today in Cancer Research Communications, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Neuroblastoma is a rare childhood cancer that typically develops in the sympathetic nervous system or the adrenal glands. Only 700 to 800 cases are diagnosed each year in the United States, accounting for 6% of childhood cancer diagnoses. However, high-risk neuroblastoma takes a disproportionate toll, causing 15% of childhood cancer deaths.

“More than half of patients with high-risk neuroblastoma do not respond to chemotherapy or radiation, or they respond initially, but develop a recurrence,” explained the study’s senior author, pediatric surgeon Tamarah Westmoreland, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Surgery at Nemours Children’s in Orlando. “These patients are in urgent need of new treatment options.”

In recent years, researchers have discovered that Zika virus, which is carried by mosquitoes, can potentially be used to kill cancer cells. Zika virus infections in pregnant women can cause serious birth defects as the virus targets CD24, a developmental protein. Previous research has suggested that certain cancers that express the CD24 protein are also vulnerable to the Zika virus, opening the door for Zika virus to be used as a treatment. In this study, Westmoreland and first author Joseph Mazar, PhD, Research Scientist at Nemours Children’s, examined Zika’s potential against neuroblastoma.

The researchers studied mice with neuroblastoma tumors that express high levels of CD24. They injected half of the mice with a saline solution, and the other half with Zika virus. Tumor sizes were monitored three times a week thereafter.

The study showed that all mice injected with the Zika virus experienced a nearly total loss of tumor size. The highest dosage tested resulted in complete elimination of the tumor, which was confirmed by an independent Nemours Children’s pathologist. In four weeks of follow-up, there was no recurrence of the tumor. Furthermore, the mice did not develop any symptoms of Zika virus infection or any side effects.

To determine whether treatment with Zika virus is likely to help human patients survive longer, the researchers developed mouse models of human neuroblastoma tumors, treating them with either Zika virus or a saline solution. Twenty-eight days after the treatment, all tumors that received the saline solution had grown by as much as 800%. The tumor models that had received Zika had shrunk to approximately 12% of the original mass, which was confirmed to represent scar tissue rather than the tumor cells. After four additional weeks, no further tumor growth was detected, suggesting that patients treated with Zika virus would be more likely to survive.

The researchers cautioned that the use of Zika virus as a cancer therapy will require extensive additional studies encompassing safety and efficacy. They are currently testing Zika virus treatment in mouse adrenal glands growing neuroblastoma, mimicking neuroblastoma’s most typical location in humans. Routine use in the United States would require testing in clinical trials and ultimately approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

“With further validation, Zika virus could be an extremely effective bridge therapy for patients with high-risk neuroblastoma,” said Mazar. “We also see potential for Zika virus to be used to treat children and adults with other cancers that express high levels of CD24.”

“Neuroblastoma is often a very challenging diagnosis, especially for the patients who are unlikely to respond well to chemotherapy,” said Matthew M. Davis, MD, MAPP, Executive Vice-President, Enterprise Physician-in-Chief and Chief Scientific Officer of Nemours. “Dr. Westmoreland and Dr. Mazar are at the forefront of potentially lifesaving cancer treatment. We are hopeful that this study will pave the way toward improved survival for patients with neuroblastoma.”

Zika background

• Zika virus was first identified in monkeys in Uganda in 1947, and first identified in humans in 1952. Spread by the bite of an infected mosquito, Zika virus can be passed from a pregnant woman to her fetus as the virus targets CD24, a developmental protein. Infection during pregnancy can lead to birth defects, including a small head size and an underdeveloped brain.
• While Zika virus infection is most common in tropical regions, the United States experienced a rise in cases in 2016 and 2017, primarily in Florida and Texas.
• In most humans, Zika virus infection results in mild cold-like symptoms. Most people infected with the virus never develop symptoms.
• This study builds upon a 2018 study by Westmoreland, Mazar, and Kenneth Alexander, MD, PhD, Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Nemours Children’s Health in Orlando. That research established the precedent that Zika virus could kill neuroblastoma cells.
• Zika virus has also been studied as a potential treatment for glioblastoma, a deadly brain cancer.

About Nemours Children’s Health
Nemours Children’s Health is one of the nation’s largest multistate pediatric health systems, which includes two free-standing children's hospitals and a network of more than 70 primary and specialty care practices. Nemours Children's seeks to transform the health of children by adopting a holistic health model that utilizes innovative, safe and high-quality care, while also caring for the health of the whole child beyond medicine. Nemours Children's also powers the world’s most-visited website for information on the health of children and teens, Nemours KidsHealth.org.

The Nemours Foundation, established through the legacy and philanthropy of Alfred I. duPont, provides pediatric clinical care, research, education, advocacy, and prevention programs to the children, families and communities it serves. For more information, visit Nemours.org.

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JOURNAL

Cancer Research Communications

Xidian University researchers develop optimal design method for microwave power transmission

Peer-Reviewed Publication

ENGINEERING

 

IMAGE: 

RR1: THE INNER RADIUS OF THE ANNULAR RECEIVING AREA; RR2: THE OUTER RADIUS OF THE ANNULAR RECEIVING AREA; RT: THE RADIUS OF THE TRANSMITTING ANTENNA; L: THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE TRANSMITTING ANTENNA AND RECTENNA; Θ1, Θ2: THE ANGLES OF THE ANNULAR RECEIVING AREA.

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CREDIT: XUN LI ET AL.

A team of researchers from Xidian University in China has achieved a new result in the field of microwave power transmission. Their study, published in Engineering, introduces an optimal design method for antenna aperture illumination with an annular collection area, with the goal of maximizing the power radiated on the collection area.

The research, led by Professor Baoyan Duan from Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Space Solar Power Station System, Xidian University, focused on formulating the aperture amplitude distribution using a unique set of series. As a result, they were able to simplify the optimal design problem to maximize the ratio of two real quadratic forms. Leveraging matrix theory, the team identified the solution to the optimization problem as determining the largest characteristic value and its associated characteristic vector.

In addressing security concerns, the researchers also integrated additional constraints to account for peak radiation levels outside the receiving area. To address this constrained optimization problem, they developed a hybrid grey wolf optimizer and Nelder–Mead simplex method. The effectiveness of this novel approach was confirmed through numerical experiments using continuous apertures. Furthermore, the optimized results were validated using discrete arrays of isotropic elements, along with patch arrays.

The newly proposed method offers several advantages in the field of microwave power transmission. “Our optimal design method enables the achievement of maximum beam collection efficiency (BCE) while satisfying security requirements,” explained the team. “This method allows for the design of continuous aperture distributions to maximize BCE, with or without extra constraints, and facilitates the easy design of array antennas of various sizes.”

The impact of this research extends beyond annular collection areas. The team emphasized, “Our method is not only applicable to annular collection areas but also extends to microwave power transmission applications with circular collection areas, as the circular collection area is a special case of an annular collection area.”

This breakthrough in optimal design methods for antenna aperture illumination holds significant potential for advancing microwave power transmission technologies. It has the capacity to optimize power radiated on collection areas, leading to more efficient and effective transmission of microwave power.

The research conducted by the team at Xidian University represents a promising development in the field. Their approach introduces new possibilities for enhancing the design and performance of microwave power transmission systems. As the demand for wireless power transfer continues to grow, advancements like these are crucial.

The paper “Optimal Design of Aperture Illuminations for Microwave Power Transmission with Annular Collection Areas,” authored by Xun Li, Baoyan Duan, Yiqun Zhang, Yongxin Guo. Full text of the open access paper: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eng.2023.07.016. For more information about the Engineering, follow us on Twitter (https://twitter.com/EngineeringJrnl) & like us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/EngineeringPortfolio).

 

About Engineering:

Engineering (ISSN: 2095-8099 IF:12.8) is an international open-access journal that was launched by the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) in 2015. Its aims are to provide a high-level platform where cutting-edge advancements in engineering R&D, current major research outputs, and key achievements can be disseminated and shared; to report progress in engineering science, discuss hot topics, areas of interest, challenges, and prospects in engineering development, and consider human and environmental well-being and ethics in engineering; to encourage engineering breakthroughs and innovations that are of profound economic and social importance, enabling them to reach advanced international standards and to become a new productive force, and thereby changing the world, benefiting humanity, and creating a new future.

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JOURNAL

Engineering

DOI

10.1016/j.eng.2023.07.016 

ARTICLE TITLE

Optimal Design of Aperture Illuminations for Microwave Power Transmission with Annular Collection Areas

 

Study on lamprey embryos sheds light on the evolutionary origin of vertebrate head

Scientists study developing lamprey embryos to clarify the origin of vertebrate head, paving the way to a better understanding of ancestral vertebrates

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF FUKUI

 

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THESE PRIMITIVE JAWLESS FISH COULD HOLD CLUES TO THE EVOLUTIONARY ORIGIN OF VERTEBRATE HEADS, AS EVIDENCED BY DETAILED EMBRYOLOGICAL ANALYSES.

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CREDIT: TAKAYUKI ONAI FROM UNIVERSITY OF FUKUI

The origin of the vertebrate skull is a topic of much debate among evolutionary biologists. Some believe that the vertebrate head has developed as a result of modification of the segmental elements of the trunk, such as the vertebrae and somites. On the other hand, others believe that the vertebrate head has evolved as a new, unsegment body part, unrelated to other widely observed embryonic segments somites. Interestingly, previous studies on embryos have revealed the presence of some vestiges of somites in the head mesoderm (e.g., head cavities and somitomeres). However, homology between trunk somites and such head segments has been controversial.

The failure to understand the evolutionary origins of the vertebrate head is also attributable to the lack of studies on extant species such as lampreys, which are known to share several traits with fossil jawless vertebrates and retain primitive traits related to the head mesoderm. While some studies have focused on the embryonic morphology of lampreys, they have often fallen short because of challenges like tissue destruction and acidic fixation during examination, making it difficult to observe the formation of head mesoderm and trunk somites.

Now, however, a research team led by Assistant Professor Takayuki Onai from the University of Fukui, Japan, has utilized advanced techniques like transmission electron microscopy and serial block-face scanning electron microscopy (SBF-SEM) to understand the development of the head mesoderm and somites in lamprey embryos. The researchers also analyzed the morphology and gene expression patterns of cephalochordate and hemichordate (both being invertebrates) to understand the origins of somites and head mesoderm from an evolutionary perspective. This paper was made available online in iScience on November 13, 2023, and is co-authored by Dr. Noritaka Adachi from Aix-Marseille Université, Dr. Hidetoshi Urakubo from the National Institute for Physiological Sciences (NIPS), Dr. Fumiaki Sugahara from Hyogo Medical University, Dr. Toshihiro Aramaki from Osaka University, Dr. Mami Matsumoto from NIPS and Nagoya City University, and Dr. Nobuhiko Ohno from NIPS and Jichi Medical University.

To clarify the presence or absence of somites in the head mesoderm during early stages of diversification, the researchers focused on rosettes, which are major somite patterns and are important for the subsequent development of vertebrae. Their initial observations of lamprey embryos showed that the tissue closely related to the formation of facial muscles and other elements of the skull, known as the head mesoderm, did have cell clusters with features similar to somite rosettes. To clarify if these cell clusters were indeed rosettes, they conducted ultrastructural experiments, including the SBF-SEM and gene expression analysis. This examination of the cellular morphology and gene expression revealed that the cell clusters were clearly distinct from rosettes. “The cell clusters we observed are likely lamprey-specific features, as they are not recognizable in the head mesoderm of both hagfish and shark embryos,” explains Dr. Onai.

Furthermore, gene expression analysis also revealed the absence of segmental expression of somitogenesis-related genes, indicating their distinctiveness from somites. These findings indicate that the rosette pattern typically seen in somites is not necessarily the essential or most basic feature that defines the process of bodily segmentation.

Moreover, the experiments provide evidence that the vertebrate head mesoderm diverged during the early phases of vertebrate evolution. Furthermore, comparison of embryos of hemichordates (a basal deuterostome), amphioxus (a basal chordate), and vertebrates revealed that the somites likely arose from the “endomesoderm” tissue of an ancient deuterostome ancestor. The evolutionary origin of somites has been the central question in zoology for more than 150 years, and in this study, Onai et al., revealed the enigma. Regarding the evolutionary mechanism for the emergence of head mesoderm, they found that the head mesoderm emerged upon the segregation of mesodermal genes between the front and back parts (rostro-caudal axis) of organisms.

“Taken together, our findings revealed a different evolutionary origin for the vertebrate head mesoderm, suggesting that it evolved from the repatterning of an ancient mesoderm and diversified even before the emergence of jawed vertebrates,” concludes Dr. Onai.

In summary, the finding that the cell clusters present in the head mesoderm are distinct morphologically and molecularly from somites, favors a new model where the vertebrate head mesoderm diverged during early evolution. This sheds more light on the age-old debate on the evolution of the vertebrate head and can help us advance the understanding of our own origins.

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JOURNAL

iScience

DOI

10.1016/j.isci.2023.108338 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Ultrastructure of the lamprey head mesoderm reveals evolution of the vertebrate head

 

New findings regarding the high efficiency of perovskite solar cells

Free charge carriers in perovskite solar cells likely have a special form of protection from recombination, researchers at Forschungszentrum Jülich have discovered by means of innovative photoluminescence measurements.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

FORSCHUNGSZENTRUM JUELICH

 

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HDR PHOTOLUMINESCENCE MEASURING STATION: DR. GENGHUA YAN WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR A LARGE PART OF THE MEASUREMENTS.

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CREDIT: FORSCHUNGSZENTRUM JÜLICH/RALF-UWE LIMBACH

Highly efficient and relatively inexpensive to produce – perovskite solar cells have been the subject of repeated surprises in recent years. Scientists at Forschungszentrum Jülich have now discovered another special feature of the cells using a new photoluminescence measurement technique. They found that the loss of charge carriers in this type of cell follows different physical laws than those known for most semiconductors. This may be one of the main reasons for their high level of efficiency. The results were presented in the journal Nature Materials.

Perovskite solar cells are regarded as highly promising for photovoltaics, even if their stability leaves much to be desired. Cells of this type are inexpensive to print and very efficient. In the last decade, their efficiency has doubled to over 25 % and is therefore currently on a par with conventional solar cells made of silicon. Further improvements also appear to be possible in the future.

“An important factor here is the question of how long excited charge carriers remain in the material, in other words their lifetime,” explains Thomas Kirchartz. “Understanding the processes is crucial to further improving the efficiency of perovskite-based solar cells.” The electrical engineer is the head of a working group on organic and hybrid solar cells at Forschungszentrum Jülich’s Institute of Energy and Climate Research (IEK-5).

It's the lifetime that counts

In a solar cell, electrons are dislodged by photons and raised to a higher energy level from the valence band to the conduction band. Only then can they move more freely and flow through an external circuit. They can only contribute to electrical energy generation if their lifetime is long enough for them to pass through the absorber material to the electrical contact. An excited electron also leaves a hole in the underlying valence band – a mobile vacancy that can be moved through the material like a positive charge carrier.

It is mainly defects in the crystal lattice which ensure that excited electrons quickly fall back down to lower energy levels again. The electrons affected are then no longer able to contribute to the current flow. “This mechanism is also known as recombination and is the main loss process of every solar cell,” says Kirchartz.

Recombination crucial for efficiency

No solar cell is perfect on an atomic level; each one has different types of defects due to the manufacturing process. These defects or foreign atoms in the lattice structure are the collection points where electrons and holes tend to come together. The electrons then fall back into the valence band and become worthless in terms of electricity generation.

“It had previously been assumed that recombination is predominantly triggered by defects that are energetically located in the middle between the valence and conduction bands. This is because these deep defects are similarly accessible to excited electrons and their counterparts, the holes,” says Kirchartz. Indeed, this is likely true for most types of solar cells.

Shallow defects dominate

However, Kirchartz and his team have now disproved this assumption for perovskite solar cells and shown that the shallow defects are ultimately decisive in terms of their final efficiency. Unlike the deep defects, they are not located in the middle of the band gap, but very close to the valence or conduction band.

“The cause of this unusual behavior has not yet been fully clarified,” Kirchartz adds. “It is reasonable to assume that deep defects simply cannot exist in these materials. This restriction may also be one of the reasons for the particularly high efficiency of the cells.”

New HDR measurement technique with extended dynamic range

The observation was only made possible by innovative transient photoluminescence measurements. In previous measurements, it was not possible to distinguish loss processes caused by shallow defects from those caused by other factors.

The new measuring method developed by Thomas Kirchartz and his team at Forschungszentrum Jülich delivers data with a significantly increased dynamic range compared to conventional technology, i.e. data over a larger measuring range and with better fine gradation. The process is based on a similar principle to HDR image in high dynamic range quality. The dynamic range of the camera is increased by superimposing different images or measurements – in this case signals with different levels of amplification – to create a data set.

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JOURNAL

Nature Materials

DOI

10.1038/s41563-023-01771-2 

ARTICLE TITLE

Shallow defects and variable photoluminescence decay times up to 280 µs in triple-cation perovskites

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

9-Jan-2024

How black silicon, a prized material used in solar cells, gets its dark, rough edge

Peer-Reviewed Publication

DOE/PRINCETON PLASMA PHYSICS LABORATORY

 

IMAGE: 

PPPL POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATE YURI BARSUKOV

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CREDIT: MICHAEL LIVINGSTON, PPPL

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have developed a new theoretical model explaining one way to make black silicon, an important material used in solar cells, light sensors, antibacterial surfaces and many other applications.

Black silicon is made when the surface of regular silicon is etched to produce tiny nanoscale pits on the surface. These pits change the color of the silicon from gray to black and, critically, trap more light, an essential feature of efficient solar cells.

While there are many ways to make black silicon, including some that use the charged, fourth state of matter known as plasma, the new model focuses on a process that uses only fluorine gas. PPPL Postdoctoral Research Associate Yuri Barsukov said the choice to focus on fluorine was intentional: the team at PPPL wanted to fill a gap in publicly available research. While some papers have been published about the role of charged particles called ions in the production of black silicon, not much has been published about the role of neutral substances, such as fluorine gas.

“We now know — with great specificity — the mechanisms that cause these pits to form when fluorine gas is used,” said Barsukov, one of the authors of a new paper about the work. “This kind of information, published publicly and openly available, benefits us all, whether we pursue further knowledge into the basic knowledge that underlines such processes or we seek to improve manufacturing processes.”
 

Model reveals bonds break based on atom orientation at the surface

The new etching model precisely explains how fluorine gas breaks certain bonds in the silicon more often than others, depending on the orientation of the bond at the surface. As silicon is a crystalline material, atoms bond in a rigid pattern. These bonds can be characterized based on the way they are oriented in the pattern, with each type of orientation, or plane, identified by a bracketed number, such as (100), (110) or (111).

“If you etch silicon using fluorine gas, the etching proceeds along (100) and (110) crystal planes but does not etch (111), resulting in a rough surface after the etching,” explained Barsukov. As the gas etches away at the silicon unevenly, pits are created on the surface of the silicon. The rougher the surface, the more light it can absorb, making rough black silicon ideal for solar cells. Smooth silicon, in contrast, is an ideal surface for creating the atomic-scale patterns necessary for computer chips.

“If you want to etch silicon while leaving a smooth surface, you should use another reactant than fluorine. It should be a reactant that etches uniformly all crystalline planes,” Barsukov said.
 

PPPL expands its expertise into quantum chemistry

The research is also notable because it represents an early success in one of PPPL’s newest research areas.

“The Lab is diversifying,” said Igor Kaganovich, principal research physicist and co-author of the paper, which was published in the Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A. “This is a first for PPPL to do this kind of quantum chemistry work.”

Quantum chemistry is a branch of science investigating the structure and reactivity of molecules using quantum mechanics: the laws of physics governing very small and very light objects, such as electrons and nuclei.

Other researchers who contributed to the paper include Joseph Vella, associate research physicist; Sierra Jubin, a graduate student at Princeton University; and former research assistant at PPPL Omesh Dhar Dwivedi.

This research was supported by the PPPL Laboratory Directed Research and Development funding for novel, innovative processes for highly selective and self-limiting etching relevant to nanofabrication of microelectronics and quantum device materials.

PPPL is mastering the art of using plasma — the fourth state of matter — to solve some of the world's toughest science and technology challenges. Nestled on Princeton University’s Forrestal Campus in Plainsboro, New Jersey, our research ignites innovation in a range of applications including fusion energy, nanoscale fabrication, quantum materials and devices, and sustainability science. The University manages the Laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science, which is the nation’s single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences. Feel the heat at https://energy.gov/science and http://www.pppl.gov.  

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JOURNAL

Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A Vacuum Surfaces and Films

DOI

10.1116/6.0002841 

ARTICLE TITLE

Orientation-dependent etching of silicon by fluorine molecules: A quantum chemistry computational study

 

War changes language: More Ukrainian, less Russian

Peer-Reviewed Publication

LUDWIG-MAXIMILIANS-UNIVERSITÄT MÜNCHEN

The number of people in Ukraine using Russian on social media has been falling since the start of the war.

A multidisciplinary team of researchers from LMU, the University of Bath, and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have analyzed changes in the use of language on social media in Ukraine before and during the Russian war of aggression. “Apparently the war is causing people to increasingly turn away from the Russian language,” says Daniel Racek, lead author of the team’s study, which has been published in the journal Communications Psychology. Racek is a doctoral student under Professor Göran Kauermann at LMU’s Department of Statistics.

Language plays a decisive role in the post-Soviet identity of Ukraine. Many Ukrainians are fluent in both Russian and Ukrainian. Until recently, however, only around half to two-thirds of the population named Ukrainian as their main native language. Since the Euromaidan protests, sparked by the sudden preliminary decision not to sign the Association Agreement with the EU, and the subsequent annexation of Crimea in 2013/2014, there is evidence that this proportion has increased due to that Russian military intervention.

Together with his team, Daniel Racek investigated over four million tweets with Ukrainian location information posted by around 63,000 users of Twitter (now X) from the period between January 2020 and October 2022. Using artificial intelligence (AI) and statistical analysis, the researchers distinguish between effects that are attributable to changes in user behavior and effects that are based on user fluctuations. The results show a long-term shift from Russian to Ukrainian, which was already underway before the war, but that significantly accelerated upon the outbreak of war, and is mainly attributable to changes in behavior.

The researchers conjecture that the observed change in behavior is very much a political reaction. Users want to distance themselves from Russia and any support for the war, and so they consciously decide to use less Russian and in many cases avoid using Russian altogether.

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JOURNAL

Communications Psychology

DOI

10.1038/s44271-023-00045-6 

ARTICLE TITLE

The Russian war in Ukraine increased Ukrainian language use on social media

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

10-Jan-2024

 

War with Russia accelerated use of Ukrainian language on social media - new research

Twitter study may signal shift to greater Ukrainian self-identification

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF BATH

University of Bath Press Release

War with Russia accelerated use of Ukrainian language on social media

Twitter study may signal shift to greater Ukrainian self-identification

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 significantly accelerated the shift from Russian language to Ukrainian on social media in what may signal a move towards greater Ukrainian self-identification, according to new research from the University of Bath, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, and the Technical University of Munich. 

Researchers examined nearly three million tweets from nearly 42,000 Ukrainian citizens from January 2020 to October 2022 and confirmed that the slow drift away from Russian observed since Ukrainian independence sped up dramatically following the invasion in February 2022.

In 2020 there were over 2,000 tweets daily in Russian compared to around 1,000 in Ukrainian and around 400 in English. By March 2022, the numbers of tweets in Russian and Ukrainian were roughly equal at around 1,000 a day, with around 250 in English, but by November of that year, Ukrainian tweets had surged to nearly 2,500 a day while Russian and English language tweets were now around 500. 

“The data also shows that, of the people predominantly tweeting in Russian before the war, roughly half of them are now tweeting more in Ukrainian. And it is striking that around a quarter of them have performed a ‘hard switch’ to tweeting predominantly in Ukrainian,” said Dr Brit Davidson of the University of Bath’s School of Management.

“The data indicates a major behavioural change, which we would suggest is a highly politicised response by users who want to affirm their Ukrainian identity. We also observed that the Russian speakers who performed a hard switch to Ukrainian seem to be more active on Twitter, potentially as a desire to publicly distance themselves from Russia,” she said.

The research team conducted an extensive spam filtering scheme, removing duplicate tweets and training a bot detection model to remove potential spam bots. They also removed users who posted more than 100 tweets per day.

Only tweets from Ukraine were counted and re-tweets were excluded, leaving only primary tweets, quotes and replies. That process removed around 1.4 million Tweets and 21,000 users to create the cleaned-up data set of nearly three million Tweets and 42,000 users.

The researchers noted that, following Ukraine’s independence in 1991, many people in Ukraine considered themselves Russians by nationality or Ukrainians with Russian as their main native language. Census results showed that attempts to create a defined Ukrainian identity were only moderately successful.

However, the Euromaidan protests of 2013, where people demonstrated for closer alignment to the European Union, followed by the Russian military intervention in Crimea and the Donbas created a consistent and substantial shift away from Russian ethnic and linguistic identification.

“Interestingly, we had also seen a long-term behavioural shift away from English tweeting activity until late November 2021 but this reversed and even substantially increased as Russian troops mobilized along the Ukrainian border – we would suggest that Twitter users wanted to let the world know what was happening and issue a call for help in a language more readily understandable around the globe,” said co-researcher Daniel Racek from LMU’s Institute of Statistics in Munich.  

As the war unfolded and the international community began to support Ukraine in various ways, that brief spike in English use faded to just above pre-invasion levels as users returned to their intra-national discussions in their native languages but much more in Ukrainian than before the invasion.

The research paper - The Russian war in Ukraine increased Ukrainian language use on social media - can be read in full here.

ENDS

Notes to editors

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JOURNAL

Communications Psychology

DOI

10.1038/s44271-023-00045-6 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

The Russian war in Ukraine increased Ukrainian language use on social media

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

10-Jan-2024

SEABIRD STUDIES

A knot’s character is formed in first year of life

Peer-Reviewed Publication

ROYAL NETHERLANDS INSTITUTE FOR SEA RESEARCH

 

IMAGE: 

 ADULT RED KNOT SEARCHING FOR FOOD ON THE MUDFLATS OF THE WADDEN SEA. © BENJAMIN GNEP 

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CREDIT: BENJAMIN GNEP

In any group of red knots, respective individuals exhibit a remarkable array of distinct character types. Birds with an exploratory character are motivated to investigate their environment and readily explore unfamiliar areas. Meanwhile, birds with inactive character types are content to remain in familiar territory. Interestingly, the birds do not appear to hatch with predetermined character types. Their characters are formed later, in the first year of life, as a result of their experiences in the Wadden Sea. Selin Ersoy and her colleagues arrived at this conclusion in a recently published paper in the Journal Animal Behaviour.

Automatic character test

Ersoy and colleagues used automated measurements to assay the characters of both old and young red knots. Young red knots were defined as birds arriving in the Wadden Sea for the first time in their lives, after departing from the tundra where they hatch. Captured birds were placed briefly in a tent containing sand-filled trays and a recording camera with a bird's-eye view of the entire tent. A computer algorithm uses the footage to determine how much the birds have moved around the tent. Exploratory types easily cover 200 meters within 20 minutes in the tent, hopping from one tray to the next. The inactive knots often remain on one of the trays until they are released.

Consistent results

"This automatic test has proven to be a reliable way to investigate the characters of the knots," said the test's creator, behavioural ecologist Allert Bijleveld of NIOZ. "When we put adult birds in the tent at intervals of days, weeks and months, the computer comes to the same conclusion on character. But when we repeatedly subject young birds to the test, they are not yet consistent in their measured character," Bijleveld said.

Character and food choice

Character is also related to food choice, according to the researchers. Exploratory types are constantly looking for the best food: prey which are easy to digest. Unfortunately, high quality prey such as shrimp and thin-shelled bivalves are difficult to find. Conversely, more passive birds are satisfied with prey that are more difficult to digest, but easier to find, such as shellfish with relatively little meat and lots of shell. Bijleveld: "From the traces left in the birds' blood by their diet, we could see that the older birds, with a consistent character, are also consistent in their food choice. Young birds not only have a less consistent character but are also much more variable in their diet. They seem to experiment by trying different prey, even seaweed."

First experiences

Based on the results of their character assays, Ersoy and colleagues conclude in their article that the character of the red knot is formed in the first year of life. The character of young birds is shaped by their initial experiences in the Wadden Sea, following their arrival from the tundra breeding grounds, where their first sustenance primarily consisted of insects. When they return to the Wadden Sea in subsequent years, they have seemingly formed food preferences and developed their character accordingly.

Flexibility

For Bijleveld, this research is another step forward in assembling the complex puzzle of wader behaviour. "It is fascinating to see how young birds still react flexibly to their environment and older birds have more fixed patterns. How this fits into a broader evolutionary picture, in terms of flexibility to a changing environment, is an open but interesting question. Apparently, it pays off to specialize over time. In a rapidly changing environment, it will therefore be the young birds that can adapt most easily to a new situation with, for example, very different food."          

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JOURNAL

Animal Behaviour

METHOD OF RESEARCH

News article

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Pathway for personality development: juvenile red knots vary more in diet and exploratory behaviour than adults