Common drugs can help viruses spread

A surprising and unfortunate side effect of some anti-inflammatory drugs

Norwegian University of Science and Technology

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Drugs are supposed to help us get rid of disease, or at least alleviate the symptoms of them. It is therefore particularly unfortunate when, on the contrary, the drugs can contribute to making us sicker. Many medications can have side effects, but some are particularly serious.

“We have found a surprising and potentially serious side effect of a class of anti-inflammatory drugs. They can help viruses spread more easily in the body,” says Denis Kainov, a professor at the Department of Clinical and Molecular Medicine at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).

Influenza, COVID-19 and other viruses spread more easily

These drugs, which can make the body extra vulnerable to viral infections, are widely used. They are known as Janus kinase inhibitors, or JAKs.

“Among the viruses that more easily affect the body with the help of these drugs are Rift Valley fever virus, influenza A, adenovirus and SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19,” Kainov says.

These are both serious and common viral infections that can be bad enough without the inadvertent help of medications.

Drugs used for autoimmune diseases and arthritis

In a new article in NAR Molecular Medicine, Kainov and colleagues describe how the drugs can promote viral infections.

“JAK inhibitors are often prescribed for autoimmune diseases and inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis,” says Erlend Ravlo, a PhD research fellow at NTNU and first author of the article.

But they also weaken the body’s natural defences against viruses.

“In particular, the drugs suppress an important immune signalling pathway that helps protect healthy cells from viral attacks,” Ravlo said.

Inhibits important gene response against viruses

The researchers found that drugs such as baricitinib slow down the genes that respond to viral infections.

“These genes play a crucial role in the body’s response to viral infections,” said Aleksandr Ianevski, an NTNU researcher and coauthor of the new paper.

By stopping or slowing down this signalling pathway, JAK inhibitors remove the body’s antiviral shield. Then viruses can more easily gain a foothold and spread.

The researchers used advanced techniques in virology, organoid technology and gene expression analysis. They examined cells from the lungs, eyes and brain, as well as in laboratory-created mini-organs.

“Although JAK inhibitors are effective in the treatment of inflammation, this shows that they can pose a hidden risk for patients who have latent or active viral infections,” says Ravlo.

Can be useful to know during the development of medications

The findings suggest that healthcare professionals should be cautious when prescribing JAK inhibitors, especially during viral outbreaks.

But the researchers point out that this immunosuppressive effect may also be useful in controlled environments, such as in the development of vaccines or screening of antiviral drugs.

The researchers hope to increase awareness among doctors and researchers about the effects of these drugs.

“We recommend further studies to better understand how the drugs can be used optimally, especially during virus outbreaks or pandemics,” says Ianevski.

Professor Magnar Bjørås at the Department of Clinical and Molecular Medicine contributed important professional knowledge and most of the funding of the research. The study was also funded by the Central Norway Regional Health Authority, the South-Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority, the Research Council of Norway and the Swedish Research Council.

Referanse: Erlend Ravlo, Aleksandr Ianevski, Marius Nårstad Skipperstøen, Hilde Lysvand, Jørn-Ove Schjølberg, Ole Solheim, Wei Wang, Miroslava Kissova, Marthe Vestvik, Olli Vapalahti, Teemu Smura, Hanna Vauhkonen, Valentyn Oksenych, Friedemann Weber, Mårten Strand, Magnus Evander, Janne Fossum Malmring, Jan Egil Afset, Magnar Bjørås, Denis E Kainov, JAK inhibitors remove innate immune barriers facilitating viral propagation, NAR Molecular Medicine,  2025;, ugaf017, https://doi.org/10.1093/narmme/ugaf017

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Journal

NAR Molecular Medicine

DOI

10.1093/narmme/ugaf017 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Cells

Article Title

JAK inhibitors remove innate immune barriers facilitating viral propagation

Article Publication Date

20-May-2025

 

Global study maps where nature’s services fall short—and why

Chinese Society for Environmental Sciences

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Visualizing the Forces Behind Ecosystem Service Mismatches.

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Credit: Environmental Science and Ecotechnology

As environmental pressures intensify, the delicate balance between what nature provides and what humanity consumes is under growing threat. A new global study offers the first high-resolution, pixel-level view of how the supply-demand relationships of four essential ecosystem services—food production, carbon sequestration, soil conservation, and water yield—have shifted over the past two decades. The findings paint a complex picture: while some regions enjoy an ecological surplus, others—particularly when it comes to carbon storage and water availability—face growing shortfalls. The study points to climate change and human activities as the key, intertwined forces reshaping this balance.

Ecosystem services are the lifelines of human society, underpinning everything from food security to climate regulation. Yet, their ability to keep pace with rising demand is faltering. Geographic and temporal mismatches between supply and demand are becoming more pronounced, threatening sustainable development. While past studies have explored these dynamics at local or national scales, the lack of global, long-term assessments has left a major knowledge gap. Furthermore, the individual and combined effects of climate variability and human intervention remain poorly understood. Due to these pressing gaps, a systematic global analysis is urgently needed to clarify the patterns and drivers of ecological mismatches.

A team of researchers from Nanjing Agricultural University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences has conducted the first pixel-level global assessment of ecosystem service supply–demand (ESSD) trends. Published (DOI: 10.1016/j.ese.2025.100573) on May 3, 2025, in Environmental Science and Ecotechnology, the study tracked changes from 2000 to 2020 using satellite data and multi-model coupling. It offers a detailed look at how climate change and human activity—separately and together—affect the global balance of four critical services, providing fresh insights for sustainable ecosystem governance.

The study reveals that, overall, ecosystem services are trending toward surplus—particularly food production and soil conservation. Yet this is not a cause for complacency. Alarming deficits are growing for carbon sequestration and water yield, especially in densely populated or industrialized zones. Spatial analysis uncovered - patterns of pattern of supply-demand mismatch: areas rich in natural resources but with sparse populations, such as remote forests and grasslands, often exhibited high supply but low demand. Meanwhile, regions with urban sprawl or rapid population growth—like sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia—faced the opposite problem. The main culprits vary by service: human activities drive mismatches in food production and carbon sequestration, while precipitation and temperature shifts—linked to climate change—are more influential in soil conservation and water yield. In fact, 80.69% of regions saw improved food supply due to these combined impact, while 76.74% suffered declines in carbon storage. A particularly revealing finding was the spatial complementarity: where one force wanes, the other waxes. These insights, derived from fine-grained (1×1 km) global data, empower decision-makers to target local solutions for a global problem.

“Pinpointing where and why nature's services fall short is crucial for smart policy,” said Dr. Wei Wu, corresponding author of the study. “Our findings show that it's not a matter of climate versus human activity—it's about their interaction. Recognizing this dual influence is key to crafting effective land-use and conservation strategies in an era of accelerating change.”

This study lays a strategic foundation for navigating ecological mismatches in a warming, crowded world. By revealing where and why mismatches occur, and identifying their dominant drivers, the research offers concrete tools for policymakers and conservationists. For example, regions with declining water yield may require investments in climate-resilient infrastructure, while areas with food shortfalls might need shifts in agricultural zoning. The authors also call for future research to incorporate more nuanced indicators of human demand and distinguish between types of human activity. Such refinements will enable more precise, targeted management of ecosystem services—ensuring that nature continues to sustain society in the decades to come.

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References

DOI

10.1016/j.ese.2025.100573

Original Source URL

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ese.2025.100573

Funding information

This work was supported by the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Program (No. 2019QZKK0406), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 42371276), and the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (No. G20200010086, No. DL2021145002L).

About Environmental Science and Ecotechnology

Environmental Science and Ecotechnology (ISSN 2666-4984) is an international, peer-reviewed, and open-access journal published by Elsevier. The journal publishes significant views and research across the full spectrum of ecology and environmental sciences, such as climate change, sustainability, biodiversity conservation, environment & health, green catalysis/processing for pollution control, and AI-driven environmental engineering. The latest impact factor of ESE is 14, according to the Journal Citation ReportTM 2024.

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Journal

Environmental Science and Ecotechnology

DOI

10.1016/j.ese.2025.100573 

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Global mismatch between ecosystem service supply and demand driven by climate change and human activity

Article Publication Date

19-May-2025

 

Using sound to ‘see’ unexploded munitions on the seafloor #ASA188

Underwater unexploded ordnance poses human safety concerns, and acoustics are the best way to identify them

Acoustical Society of America

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Clockwise from bottom left: photo of corroded bomblet, X-ray CT scan of the same bomblet, acoustic fingerprint of the bomblet with corrosion signature cross section of the bomblet (inset).

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Credit: Kevin Lee, Connor Hodges, and Preston Wilson

New Orleans, May 19, 2025 – More than 400 underwater sites in the United States are potentially contaminated with unexploded ordnance (UXO) — weapons that did not explode upon deployment, which continue to pose a safety concern.

Connor Hodges, a doctoral student at the University of Texas at Austin, studies the changes in the acoustic characteristics of these UXOs after they have been subject to corrosion and biofouling to help detect them underwater.

“Many of these sites are in shallow water, potentially posing a threat to human safety, and date back several decades,” said Hodges. “This long exposure to the environment leads to corrosion as well as encrustation in the form of barnacles or algal growth.”

Corrosion and growth make UXOs difficult to observe with standard sonar imaging techniques, as the objects begin to lose resemblance to their original appearance and blend into their environment over time. These changes also alter how acoustic signals scatter from the objects, and the changes can become more severe over time as corrosion or organic growth gets worse.

Hodges will discuss the use of acoustics for corroded UXO recovery on Monday, May 19, at 8 a.m. CT as part of the joint 188th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America and 25th International Congress on Acoustics, running May 18-23.

Hodges and his collaborators tested a collection of AN-Mk 23 practice bombs — miniature bombs used for dive-bombing practice — in various stages of corrosion, which had been buried in a brackish pond on Martha’s Vineyard for about 80 years. They compared the acoustics of these samples to those of pristine AN-Mk 23, monitoring the scattering response at different directions and angles.

The researchers found the change in size, shape, and material makeup of a bomb as it corrodes changes its acoustic resonance and leads to a different, weaker scattered acoustic signal than pristine bombs. The changed acoustic signature could result in the object being misclassified or undetected.

“Acoustic scattering techniques give an insight into the internal structure of the object imaged, as well as a method to ‘see’ into the seafloor,” said Hodges, noting that using sonar to map the seafloor and detect munitions is also faster and cheaper than other techniques.

Many former military sites used for practice bombs are shifting toward public use, making UXO identification a timely endeavor.

“There is a risk of detonation if they are stepped on or otherwise disturbed,” Hodges said. “This poses a larger risk to human safety in shallow waters, and UXO identification and recovery becomes vital as old sites are transitioned away from military use.”

He hopes the work can help provide better predictive tools for finding UXOs in civilian environmental demining efforts and plans to study other types of munitions as well as other types of corrosion and biofouling phenomena.

“Underwater UXO can be tricky to find and recover, so it is important that this can be done safely and effectively,” said Hodges. “We hope this work will ultimately help save lives.”

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ABOUT THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA

The Acoustical Society of America is the premier international scientific society in acoustics devoted to the science and technology of sound. Its 7,000 members worldwide represent a broad spectrum of the study of acoustics. ASA publications include The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (the world’s leading journal on acoustics), JASA Express Letters, Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics, Acoustics Today magazine, books, and standards on acoustics. The society also holds two major scientific meetings each year. See https://acousticalsociety.org/. 

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Level-ground and stair adaptation for hip exoskeletons based on continuous locomotion mode perception

Beijing Institute of Technology Press Co., Ltd

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(A) Modular design and actuation of hip exoskeleton (including transmission, control and actuation components, etc.). (B) Wearing diagram.

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Credit: Qining Wang, department of Advanced Manufacturing and Robotics, College of Engineering, Peking University.

A research article published by the Peking University presented a control framework for exoskeletons based on environmental perception, which effectively integrates environmental information and human kinematic data, improves the accuracy and lead time of transition detection, thereby enhancing smooth switching of control strategies across different terrains. Additionally, the adoption of a learning-free method eliminates the need for data collection and model training, demonstrating strong generalization capabilities across users.

The new research paper, published on Apr. 22 in the journal Cyborg and Bionic Systems, presented a study on adaptive control of hip exoskeletons in level-ground and stair environments employs a continuous locomotion mode perception technology based on a learning-free (non-data-driven) method.

Recent advances in hip exoskeleton control have demonstrated potential in enhancing human mobility across diverse terrains. However, achieving seamless adaptation to continuous locomotion modes (e.g., level-ground walking, stair ascent/descent) without user-specific data training remains a significant challenge. "By integrating depth-enhanced visual-inertial odometry and terrain reconstruction, our learning-free method eliminates dependency on datasets while maintaining high prediction accuracy across subjects," explained corresponding author Qining Wang, a professor at Peking University. The proposed three-layer control framework incorporates (a) a depth camera for real-time environment mapping, (b) pressure insoles for gait phase detection, and (c) physics-driven torque/damping strategies tailored to biomechanical profiles. "This approach ensures smooth transitions between control modes by predicting terrain changes before the end of transition periods," added lead author Zhaoyang Wang.

The system was validated through experiments with 7 subjects performing continuous locomotion (LG, SA, SD, and transitions). High-level perception achieved >95% accuracy for steady modes (LG: 98.1% ± 1.8%, SA: 97.3% ± 3.7%, SD: 95.8% ± 3.9%) and 87.5–100% accuracy for transitions, detecting shifts 14.5–30.5% earlier than transition completion. Mid-level control employed phase-specific torque curves (e.g., peak extension torque at 42% gait cycle for LG) and constant damping for SD, while low-level execution utilized PID-based torque tracking and PWM-modulated braking. Compared to CNN-based methods, this framework improved transition accuracy by 20–30% and reduced reliance on user calibration.

"Vision-based terrain reconstruction enabled precise prediction of stair geometry, aligning exoskeleton assistance with real-time biomechanical demands," noted Wang. Limitations include sensitivity to lighting variations and unstructured environments. Future work will integrate multimodal sensors and validate efficacy in clinical populations. This study advances adaptive exoskeleton control by merging environmental intelligence with human-centric design, paving the way for robust, user-agnostic assistive technologies.

Authors of the paper include Zhaoyang Wang, Dongfang Xu, Shunyi Zhao, Zehuan Yu, Yan Huang, Lecheng Ruan, Zhihao Zhou, and Qining Wang.

This work is supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (nos. 91948302, 52005011, 62073038, and 52475001) and Beijing Municipal Science and Technology project (no. D181100000318002).

The paper, “Level-Ground and Stair Adaptation for Hip Exoskeletons Based on Continuous Locomotion Mode Perception” was published in the journal Cyborg and Bionic Systems on Apr 22 2025, at DOI: 10.34133/cbsystems.0248.

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Journal

Cyborg and Bionic Systems

Efficient hybrid environment expression for look-and-step behavior of bipedal walking

Beijing Institute of Technology Press Co., Ltd

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The feasible planar regions are used for footstep planning, preventing the body from hitting obstacles, and the heightmap is used to calculate foot trajectory to avoid foot collision during the swing process. The planar regions are efficiently extracted by leveraging the organized structure of points for nearest neighbor searches.

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Credit: Xuechao Chen, School of Mechatronic Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology

A research paper by scientists at Beijing Institute of Technology proposed an efficient and safe perception method tailored for the look-and-step behavior of bipedal robots.

The new research paper, published on Apr. 23 in the journal Cyborg and Bionic Systems, provide an efficient method for representing the surrounding environment as a hybrid of feasible planar regions and a heightmap. The method consists of 2 subsystems: feasible planar region extraction and heightmap construction.

The look-and-step behavior of biped robots requires quickly extracting planar regions and obstacles with limited computing resources. “The look-and-step behavior is a strategy for biped robots that involves rapidly perceiving the surrounding environment, taking a step, and repeating the process without pause or deliberation. This approach significantly enhances the robot’s adaptability to unknown environments and helps correct accumulated walking deviations during navigation.” Explained study author Xuechao Chen, a professor at Beijing Institute of Technology. During bipedal walking, biped robots must extract surrounding information about landing areas and obstacles. However, current methods for biped robots often need long computation times or rely on additional computing units, such as graphics processing units (GPUs), to reduce processing time. Although GPUs enhance computational speed, their use adds weight and increases space requirements, making them less suitable for biped robots.

In this work, authors proposed an efficient method representing the environment as a hybrid of feasible planar regions and a heightmap. The feasible planar regions are used for footstep planning, preventing the body from hitting obstacles, and the heightmap is used to calculate foot trajectory to avoid foot collision during the swing process. The planar regions are efficiently extracted by leveraging the organized structure of points for nearest neighbor searches. To ensure safe locomotion, these extracted planar regions exclude areas that could cause the robot’s body to collide with the environment. The proposed method completes this perception process in 0.16 s per frame using only a central processing unit, making it suitable for look-and-step behavior of biped robots. “Combined with the footstep planning algorithm developed by our group, we experimentally verify the efficiency and safety of the proposed method in typical artificial scenes.” said Chao Li.

The contributions of this paper are as follows: 1. Authors propose an efficient method to present the environment as feasible planar regions and a heightmap within limited computing resources. 2. Authors apply the structured nature of points within an organized point cloud to the nearest neighbor search, which accelerates the planar extraction process. 3. Authors experimentally demonstrate that the proposed perception method can rapidly extract necessary environmental information while ensuring the robot’s walking safety.

While the proposed method demonstrates effectiveness in planning footsteps for biped robots on planar regions, there are several limitations that should be considered. First, the method depends on empirically set thresholds tailored for specific scenarios. These thresholds, while effective in the tested scenarios, may not automatically adapt to different environments or terrain variations. However, this is a manageable challenge that could be addressed through future work on adaptive thresholding techniques. Future work will focus on extending this approach to continuous walking based on the look-and-step paradigm, further enhancing the robot’s adaptability to changing scenarios.

Authors of the paper include Chao Li, Qingqing Li, Junhang Lai, Xuechao Chen, Zhangguo Yu, and Zhihong Jiang.

This work was supported by the Postdoctoral Fellowship Program of CPSF under grant GZC20233399 and the Beijing Natural Science Foundation under grant L243004.

The paper, “Efficient Hybrid Environment Expression for Look-and-Step Behavior of Bipedal Walking” was published in the journal Cyborg and Bionic Systems on Apr 23, 2025, at DOI: 10.34133/cbsystems.0244.

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Journal

Cyborg and Bionic Systems