Fossil discovery finally exposes origins of Welsh dragons

MAY 30, 2024, by U. of Bristol

https://phys.org/news/2024-05-large-fossil-discovery-exposes-welsh.html

Site photographs of the two bone beds at (A) Lavernock Point and (B) St Mary's Well Bay. The basal bone bed at Lavernock has a nearly continuous thickness of 5 cm, while the higher bed at St Mary's Well Bay has an approximate thickness of 1.5 cm. 

Credit: Proceedings of the Geologists' Association (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.pgeola.2024.05.001

A large fossil discovery has helped shed light on the history of dinosaurs in Wales. The find is reported in Proceedings of the Geologists' Association.

Until recently, the land of the dragon didn't have any dinosaurs. However, in the last 10 years, several dinosaurs have been reported, but their life conditions were not well known.

In a new study by a team from the University of Bristol, important details have been revealed for the first time. The researchers found that early Welsh dinosaurs, from more than 200 million years ago, lived on a tropical lowland beside the sea. Dinosaur trackways are known from Barry and other sites nearby, showing that dinosaurs had walked across the warm lowlands.

The discovery was made at Lavernock Point, close to Cardiff and Penarth, where the cliffs of dark-colored shales and limestones document ancient shallow seas. At several levels, there are accumulations of bones, including the remains of fish, sharks, marine reptiles and occasionally, dinosaurs.

Former student of the Bristol MSc in Paleobiology Owain Evans, who led the study, explained, "The bone bed paints the picture of a tropical archipelago, which was subjected to frequent storms, that washed material from around the surrounding area, both in land and out at sea, into a tidal zone.

"This means that from just one fossil horizon, we can reconstruct a complex ecological system, with a diverse array of marine reptiles like ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs and placodonts in the water, and dinosaurs on land.

"I had visited the coast at Penarth all my life, growing up in Cardiff, but never noticed the fossils. Then, the more I read, the more amazing it became. Local geologists had been collecting bones since the 1870s, and most of these are in the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff."

View of the cliff face at Lavernock Point from the east end of the beach, showing the red mudstones of the Williton Member (Mercia Mudstone Formation) transitioning upwards into the interbedded shales of the Westbury Formation. 

Credit: Proceedings of the Geologists' Association (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.pgeola.2024.05.001

Cindy Howells, Curator of Paleontology at the National Museum of Wales, adds, "The collections from Lavernock go all the way back to the 19th century, with many sections of the bone bed being collected over the years. The presence of dinosaur fossils at the site ensure that it remains one of the most significant localities for paleontology in Wales."

Two discoveries made by the team while conducting fieldwork at Lavernock were the fossilized remains of a placodont osteoderm, and a single coelacanth gular bone.

Supervisor Dr. Chris Duffin said, "The remains of coelacanths and placodonts are relatively rare in the U.K., which makes these finds even more remarkable. These two fossils alone help build a broader picture of what the Rhaetian in the U.K. would have looked like."

Professor Michael Benton from Bristol's School of Earth Sciences, another project supervisor, adds, "The volume of dinosaur remains found at Lavernock is extremely exciting, and is a chance to study a complex, and often mysterious period in their evolutionary history. We have identified the remains of a large Plateosaurus like animal, along with several bones which likely belonged to a predatory theropod."

A significant section of the paper is dedicated to the abundant microfossils found at the site, which include fish teeth, scales and bone fragments. By examining thousands of specimens, the team was able to identify the key species in the shallow seas and work out the relative importance of each.

The origins of the Welsh dragons have been pinned down at last.

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2,000 km of Antarctic ice-covered coastline has been stable, raising a little, for 85 years

MAY 30, 2024, by U. of Copenhagen

https://phys.org/news/2024-05-local-bright-glaciers-km-antarctic.html

Overview map. Credit: Mads Dømgaard

A whaler's forgotten aerial photos from 1937 have given researchers at the University of Copenhagen the most detailed picture of the ice evolution in East Antarctica to date. The results show that the ice has remained stable and even grown slightly over almost a century, though scientists observe early signs of weakening. The research offers new insights that enhance predictions of ice changes and sea level rise.

Higher temperatures, extreme weather, melting glaciers, and rising sea levels—all indicators that the climate and the world's ice masses are in a critical state. However, a new study published in Nature Communications from the Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management at the University of Copenhagen offers a local bright spot.

Using hundreds of old aerial photographs dating back to 1937, combined with modern computer technology, the researchers have tracked the evolution of glaciers in East Antarctica. The area covers approximately 2,000 kilometers of coastline and contains as much ice as the entire Greenland Ice Sheet.

By comparing the historical aerial photos with modern satellite data, the researchers have been able to determine whether the glaciers have retreated or advanced and whether they have thickened or thinned. The study reveals that the ice has not only remained stable but grown slightly over the last 85 years, partly due to increasing snowfall.

"We constantly hear about climate change and new melt records, so it's refreshing to observe an area of glaciers that has remained stable for almost a century," says Ph.D. student Mads Dømgaard, the study's first author.

However, the researcher emphasizes that the study also shows the first signs of changes in the sea ice off the glacier. This could mean that the stable East Antarctic glaciers might shrink in the future.

"Our results also indicate weakening sea ice conditions, making the glaciers' floating ice tongues more vulnerable and unable to grow as large as seen in the early aerial images from 1937. We know from other parts of Antarctica that the ocean plays an extremely important role and drives the massive and increasing melt we see in, e.g., West Antarctica," says Dømgaard.

More about the studyOut of 2,200 images photographed from seaplanes in 1937, 130 were selected for the analysis.
The researchers combined the historical photos with modern satellite data to create 3D reconstructions of the glaciers.
The Norwegian aerial images were supplemented with 165 aerial images of the same glaciers from Australian surveys conducted between 1950 and 1974. This allowed the researchers to examine the evolution of the glaciers over different periods and calculate historical ice flow speeds for selected glaciers.
Compared to modern data, the ice flow speeds are unchanged. While some glaciers have thinned over shorter intermediate periods of 10–20 years, they have remained stable or grown slightly in the long term, indicating a system in balance.

The area covers approximately 2000 kilometers of coastline and contains as much ice as the entire Greenland Ice Sheet. 

Credit: Norwegian Polar Institute in Tromsø

Hidden from the Nazis

Most of the images used in the study were captured during a 1937 expedition organized and paid for by Norwegian whaler Lars Christensen. The mission aimed to produce the first maps of this part of East Antarctica, but the maps were never published due to the German invasion of Norway. Since then, the images have been stored at the Norwegian Polar Institute in Tromsø and forgotten.

When the researchers from the University of Copenhagen read about the expedition, they realized that valuable images were likely hidden in an archive in Norway. They traveled to Tromsø and reviewed all 2,200 images taken during the expedition. They supplemented the Norwegian aerial images with images of the same glaciers from Australian surveys conducted between 1950 and 1974.

"By comparing the historical aerial photos with modern satellite data, we have gained critical knowledge about glaciers that we would not otherwise have had. I think it's fantastic that these old images can be used to generated new research results almost 100 years after they were taken," says Assistant Professor Anders Bjørk from the University of Copenhagen, who leads the group working with the historical images.

Potential for major sea level rise

The Antarctic Ice Sheet is receiving increasing attention from researchers, due to its potential for extremely large and rapid sea level rise. Unlike Greenland, very little was known about Antarctica glaciers until the 1990s, when the first good satellite observations became available.

"Early observations of glaciers are extremely valuable as they give us a unique insight into how the ice has evolved through a varying climate and whether current changes in the ice exceed the glaciers' normal cycle of advance and retreat," explains Dømgaard.

According to the researcher, solid, long-term data is crucial for producing accurate predictions of future glacier evolution and sea level rise, and this study provides new insights into a vast area in East Antarctica.

"The long time series of glaciers improves our ability to make more accurate models of future ice changes, as the models are trained on historical observations," concludes Bjørk.

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Misleading headlines on COVID-19 from mainstream sources did more harm than fake news, on Facebook

MAY 30, 2024, by MIT Sloan School of Management

https://phys.org/news/2024-05-covid-headlines-mainstream-sources-facebook.html

Despite the greater potency of "fake news" on Facebook to discourage Americans from taking the COVID-19 vaccine, users' greater exposure to unflagged, vaccine-skeptical content meant the latter had a much greater negative effect on vaccine uptake. 

Credit: Jennifer Allen, Duncan Watts, David G. Rand

Since the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine in 2021, fake news on social media has been widely blamed for low vaccine uptake in the United States—but research by MIT Sloan School of Management Ph.D. candidate Jennifer Allen and Professor David Rand finds that the blame lies elsewhere.

In a new paper published in Science and co-authored by Duncan J. Watts of the University of Pennsylvania, the researchers introduce a new methodology for measuring social media content's causal impact at scale. They show that misleading content from mainstream news sources—rather than outright misinformation or "fake news"—was the primary driver of vaccine hesitancy on Facebook.

A new approach to estimating impact

"Misinformation has been correlated with many societal challenges, but there's not a lot of research showing that exposure to misinformation actually causes harm," explained Allen.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, the spread of misinformation related to the virus and vaccine received significant public attention. However, existing research has, for the most part, only established correlations between vaccine refusal and factors such as sharing misinformation online—and largely overlooked the role of "vaccine-skeptical" content, which was potentially misleading but not flagged as misinformation by Facebook fact-checkers.

To address that gap, the researchers first asked a key question: What would be necessary for misinformation or any other type of content to have far-reaching impacts?

"To change behavior at scale, content has to not only be persuasive enough to convince people not to get the vaccine, but also widely seen," Allen said. "Potential harm results from the combination of persuasion and exposure."

To quantify content's persuasive ability, the researchers conducted randomized experiments in which they showed thousands of survey participants the headlines from 130 vaccine-related stories—including both mainstream content and known misinformation—and tested how those headlines impacted their intentions to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

Researchers also asked a separate group of respondents to rate the headlines across various attributes, including plausibility and political leaning. One factor reliably predicted impacts on vaccination intentions: the extent to which a headline suggested that the vaccine was harmful to a person's health.

Using the "wisdom of crowds" and natural language processing AI tools, Allen and her co-authors extrapolated those survey results to predict the persuasive power of all 13,206 vaccine-related URLs that were widely viewed on Facebook in the first three months of the vaccine rollout.

By combining these predictions with data from Facebook showing the number of users who viewed each URL, the researchers could predict each headline's overall impact—the number of people it might have persuaded not to get the vaccine. The results were surprising.

The underestimated power of exposure

Contrary to popular perceptions, the researchers estimated that vaccine-skeptical content reduced vaccination intentions 46 times more than misinformation flagged by fact-checkers.

The reason? Even though flagged misinformation was more harmful when seen, it had relatively low reach. In total, the vaccine-related headlines in the Facebook data set received 2.7 billion views—but content flagged as misinformation received just 0.3% of those views, and content from domains rated as low-credibility received 5.1%.

"Even though the outright false content reduced vaccination intentions the most when viewed, comparatively few people saw it," explained Rand. "Essentially, that means there's this class of gray-area content that is less harmful per exposure but is seen far more often —and thus more impactful overall—that has been largely overlooked by both academics and social media companies."

Notably, several of the most impactful URLs within the data set were articles from mainstream sources that cast doubt on the vaccine's safety. For instance, the most-viewed was an article—from a well-regarded mainstream news source—suggesting that a medical doctor died two weeks after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. This single headline received 54.9 million views—more than six times the combined views of all flagged misinformation.

While the body of this article did acknowledge the uncertainty of the doctor's cause of death, its "clickbait" headline was highly suggestive and implied that the vaccine was likely responsible. That's significant since the vast majority of viewers on social media likely never click out to read past the headline.

How journalists and social media platforms can help

According to Rand, one implication of this work is that media outlets need to take more care with their headlines, even if that means they aren't as attention-grabbing.

"When you are writing a headline, you should not just be asking yourself if it's false or not," he said. "You should be asking yourself if the headline is likely to cause inaccurate perceptions."

For platforms, added Allen, the research also points to the need for more nuanced moderation—across all subjects, not just public health.

"Content moderation focuses on identifying the most egregiously false information—but that may not be an effective way of identifying the most overall harmful content," she says. "Platforms should also prioritize reviewing content from the people or organizations with the largest numbers of followers while balancing freedom of expression. We need to invest in more research and creative solutions in this space—for example, crowdsourced moderation tools like X's Community Notes."

"Content moderation decisions can be really difficult because of the inherent tension between wanting to mitigate harm and allowing people to express themselves," Rand said. "Our paper introduces a framework to help balance that trade-off by allowing tech companies to actually quantify potential harm."

And the trade-offs could be large. An exploratory analysis by the authors found that if Facebook users hadn't been exposed to this vaccine-skeptical content, as many as 3 million more Americans could have been vaccinated.

"We can't just ignore this gray area-content," Allen concluded. "Lives could have been saved."

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Health and Wellness News: Hebrew U. discovery offers new, predictive tool for cancer that uses nano informatics and AI

 

Hebrew U. discovery offers new, predictive tool for cancer that uses nano informatics and AI

Hebrew University discovery to ‘revolutionize’ cancer treatment with a new, predictive-tool ‘breakthrough’ in predicting cancer using nano informatics and AI.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH, Jerusalem Post, MAY 29, 2024 

https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/article-804220

           Cell illustration. (photo credit: Made by Prof. Ofra Benny by OpenAI software DALL-E)

Another step in the battle against cancer has been accomplished by researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU). They have introduced a novel method that combines nano informatics and machine learning to precisely predict cancer-cell behaviors.

According to the researchers, this will make it possible to identify subpopulations of cells with distinct characteristics, such as drug sensitivity and the danger of spreading (metastasizing) to other parts of the body.

Doctoral student Yoel Goldstein and Prof. Ofra Benny from the School of Pharmacy in the HU Faculty of Medicine collaborated with Prof. Tommy Kaplan, head of the computational biology department at the School of Engineering and Computer Science.

They said their research could transform cancer diagnosis and treatment, enhancing personalized medicine by making possible speedy and accurate testing of cancer-cell behaviors from patient biopsies. This could lead to the development of new clinical tests to monitor disease progression and the effectiveness of treatment.

The researchers recently published their study in the Nature Group’s prestigious journal Science Advances under the title “Magnetism and photo dual-controlled supramolecular assembly for suppression of tumor invasion and metastasis.”

                    Yoel Goldstein and Prof. Ofra Benny in the Lab. (credit: Yoram Aschheim)

The first part of the research involved exposing cancer cells to particles of various sizes, each identified by a unique color. The precise number of particles consumed by each cell was then measured. Machine-learning algorithms then analyzed these uptake patterns to predict the critical behaviors of cells, such as drug sensitivity and the potential to spread.

“Our method is unique in its ability to distinguish between cancer cells that appear identical but behave differently at a biological level,” Goldstein said. “This precision is achieved through algorithmic analysis of how micro and nanoparticles are absorbed by cells. Being able to collect and analyze new types of data raises new possibilities for the field, with the potential to revolutionize clinical treatment and diagnosis through the development of new tools.”The research has paved the way for new types of clinical tests that could significantly impact patient care, the researchers said in their study.

“This discovery allows us to potentially use cells from patient biopsies to quickly predict disease progression or chemotherapy resistance,” Benny said. “It could also lead to the development of innovative blood tests that assess the efficacy of targeted immunotherapy treatments as an example.”

Lacking accuracy and efficiency

Current tools for predicting and detecting cancer often lack accuracy and efficiency. Traditional methods such as imaging scans and tissue biopsies can be invasive, costly, and time-consuming, leading to delays in treatment and potential misdiagnoses.

These approaches may not capture the dynamic nature of cancer progression and can result in limited insights into the disease’s behavior at a cellular level. As a result, patients may face delays in diagnosis, suboptimal treatment outcomes, and increased psychological distress.

The study highlighted the urgent need for more effective and noninvasive diagnostic tools, such as the HU discovery, which presents a significant advancement in personalized medicine, providing hope for more effective and customized treatment strategies for cancer patients.

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Environmental conditions influenced how early humans migrated across continents.

MAY 29, 2024, by Flinders U.

https://phys.org/news/2024-05-environmental-conditions-early-humans-migrated.html

The infographic shows the routes most likely favored by the first human migrants across Eurasia and the Americas. These routes are estimated using a statistical combination of archaeological and genetic data. Colored areas indicate the type of ecosystems encountered, based on climate and vegetation models. The inset image illustrates the ideal migration conditions: warm and humid areas containing a mix of forest and grasslands near rivers. 

Credit: Flinders University

Researchers have gleaned new insights into the great human migration, revealing how environmental conditions in northern Eurasia and the Americas shaped the journey of ancestors who left Africa tens of thousands of years ago.

The Out of Africa theory suggests that more than 70,000 years ago, some groups left Africa to spread across Europe, Asia, Australia, and the Americas. However, it remains unclear how much the environment they encountered beyond Africa facilitated or hindered their journey.

Researchers combined climate models, genetic data, and archaeological evidence to examine how regional environmental conditions influenced migration and to re-establish our long-lasting connection to nature.

The multidisciplinary analysis, led by Flinders University ecologist Dr. Frédérik Saltré and recently published in Nature Communications, demonstrates that while the relative importance of environmental factors varies across regions, our ancestors traveled primarily through warm and humid areas containing a mix of forest and grasslands near rivers.

"The first human migrants favored routes that provided essential resources and facilitated travel, as well as regions with a mix of forests and open areas for shelter and food, while allowing them to expand into new territories," Dr. Saltré said.

In Europe, humans likely first spread from the Fertile Crescent through the Caucasus Mountains into Scandinavia approximately 48,300 years ago and Western Europe around 44,100 years ago, following warmer and wetter conditions.

In northern Asia, migration routes followed major rivers to cope with harsher climates before reaching Beringia, a currently submerged land bridge between Siberia and Alaska, approximately 34,700 years ago.

In North America, humans initially migrated along the Pacific coast around 16,000 years ago, and then approximately 3,000 years later, moved inland through the ice-free corridor by the Mackenzie River.

In South America, migration followed wetter grasslands bordering the Amazon, leveraging connectivity provided by major rivers by 14,800 years ago.

Professor Tom Higham of the University of Vienna said the power of these new modeling approaches in understanding the deep human past is exciting for archaeological science.

He explained, "For too long we have been working rather separately in our different approaches. Incorporating new modeling methods with the latest climatic, archaeological, and environmental data allows really exciting insights into understanding how ancient humans moved and adapted across vast continents tens of thousands of years ago."

Professor Corey Bradshaw, also from Flinders University and a Chief Investigator at the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage (CABAH), said modeling provides a powerful framework for exploring and understanding the complexities of deep history, offering insights into how past events and conditions have shaped the present.

He said, "Knowing where people first trekked beyond the cradle of human evolution gives us a flavor of how adaptable our early ancestors were, what environmental challenges they faced, and how they overcame them and survived. We can also infer the technological innovations that were at play during those times—such as watercraft, clothing, and other tools—that allowed people to exploit the most hostile environments."

Associate Professor Bastien Llamas from The University of Adelaide and a Deputy Director in CABAH said merging genetic data with historical climate information and archaeological discoveries is a powerful method for inferring past human migration patterns.

He said, "Studying genetic differences between groups of people helps us understand ancient migration patterns. Typically, this results in a basic map showing general movements from one area to another without detailed routes. However, by combining genetic data with information about past climates, environments, and archaeological findings, we can create much more detailed and accurate maps of how people moved over time and across different regions."

Dr. Saltré said the study's results help us appreciate the importance of biodiversity in how our ancestors adapted to and overcame environmental challenges.

He added, "It underscores how climate and ecology shaped human prehistory, highlighting biodiversity's role in human survival and mobility, demonstrating that rich ecosystems enabled humans to thrive in new environments for thousands of years. The biodiversity crisis that we are experiencing now compromises our ability to thrive. Despite the advanced technology we have today, I genuinely wonder if we will last long without maintaining the bulk of current biodiversity."

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Orchid plants nurture their seedlings via shared underground fungal network, study shows

MAY 29, 2024 , by S. Langley, U. of Sheffield

https://phys.org/news/2024-05-orchid-nurture-seedlings-underground-fungal.html

Credit: John Haggar, Hardy Orchid Society

The Common Spotted Orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii) is found all over the U.K. These orchids produce tiny seeds that can be carried anywhere by the wind, yet they often appear in clumps with small seedlings growing near mature plants. This phenomenon has puzzled ecologists since Darwin's time, with the exact reason remaining a mystery.

A new study, led by researchers from the University of Sheffield in collaboration with The University of Manchester, provides the first evidence that early stage orchid seedlings germinate and thrive near to adult plants due to a kind of parental nurture using underground fungal networks.

Scientists investigated the idea that fungal networks, known as mycorrhizal networks, act as a direct pathway for established orchid plants to share recently produced sugars with developing seedlings.

Professor Katie Field, co-author of the study and Professor of Plant-Soil Processes at the University of Sheffield's School of Biosciences, said, "Our results support the idea that some orchids engage in a form of 'parental nurture' with their seedlings.

"By supplying early stage seedlings with essential nutrients via shared fungal connections, the parent orchids give the seedlings an advantage over neighboring plants that are competing for the same resources.

"This finding is exciting because why these orchids are often found in clumps, despite their seeds being wind dispersed, has been a puzzle for hundreds of years."

The study focused on the Common Spotted Orchid and its fungal partner, Ceratobasidium cornigerum. Researchers created a system where mature, green orchids were connected to developing, chlorophyll-free seedlings through a fungal network grown on agar.

The mature plants were then exposed to a special form of carbon dioxide that could be tracked within the system.

Here's how it worked:Green orchid plants were connected to developing seedlings through the fungal network.
The green plants were then exposed to a special form of carbon dioxide that could be tracked within the system.
After a period of time, the researchers analyzed both the seedlings and the fungal network to see where the labeled carbon ended up.

The results were clear, the seedlings were accumulating the labeled carbon, indicating they were being supported by the adult plants. By tracking the movement of carbon, the study showed that the mature orchids were indeed sharing their recently produced sugars with the seedlings through the fungal network.

Sir David Read, Emeritus Professor of Plant Sciences from the University of Sheffield and lead author of the study, said, "Whereas the seeds of most plants, for example legumes (peas, beans) and grasses (rice, corn, wheat) are fully provisioned with food reserves by their parent plants, the so-called dust seeds of orchids receive insufficient reserves from the parents to develop on their own.

"They are instead produced in their millions by each individual parent orchid plant from which they are dispersed, by wind, to the surrounding environment. Even Charles Darwin was puzzled by this strategy, suggesting that while it should enable the seeds of an individual orchid plant to be so widely distributed that within a few years it could colonize the whole world. He observed that their failure to do so 'could not be understood at this time.'

"What is now revealed is that the belowground development of these essentially reserve-free seeds can be supported by photosynthetically produced sugars that are transported to them from mature plants growing above ground through a shared mycelium of symbiotic fungi."

Results of the study, published in New Phytologist, show the amount of carbon transferred seemed to depend on the environment. When the fungus had access to a richer food source (oatmeal agar), less carbon was transferred to the seedling. This suggests that the strength of the demand from the seedlings may influence the flow of nutrients through the network.

This research has important implications for understanding orchid ecology and conservation efforts. By recognizing the importance of fungal connections, scientists can develop better strategies for protecting these unique and often threatened plants.

Next steps are to research this theory in the natural habitat that the orchids are found in and to look at whether this applies to other species.

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Intermittent fasting shows promise in improving gut health, weight management

MAY 29, 2024, by R. Harth, Arizona State U.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-05-intermittent-fasting-gut-health-weight.html

The human gut contains trillions of bacterial and other microbes collectively known as the gut microbiome. New research explores how these diverse microorganisms help manage weight. ASU researchers explore the effects of an intermittent fasting diet combined with protein pacing on body weight and overall health. 

Credit: The Biodesign institute at Arizona State University

A new study by researchers from Arizona State University and their colleagues highlights a dietary strategy for significant health improvement and weight management.

Participants following an intermittent fasting and protein-pacing regimen, which involves evenly spaced protein intake throughout the day, saw better gut health, weight loss and metabolic responses. These benefits were notably greater than those seen with simple calorie restriction.

The findings, reported in the journal Nature Communications, could advance our understanding of the relationship between the gut microbiome and metabolism and improve strategies for managing obesity.

The researchers compared the effects of two low-calorie dietary interventions: a heart-healthy continuous calorie-restricted diet (based on USDA dietary recommendations), and a calorie-restricted regimen incorporating intermittent fasting and protein pacing.

The trial was conducted with 41 individuals who were overweight or obese over a period of eight weeks. Individuals in the intermittent fasting and protein-pacing group showed a decrease in symptoms of gastrointestinal problems and an increase in diversity of the gut microbiota compared with those in the calorie-restriction group.

The intermittent fasting protocol increased beneficial microbes in the gut that have been linked to a lean body type and improved overall health. Additionally, it increased the levels of certain proteins (cytokines) in the blood associated with weight loss, as well as amino acid byproducts that promote fat burning.

Intermittent fasting is an eating pattern that cycles between periods of fasting and eating. The method has recently gained popularity for its potential health benefits, including weight loss, improved metabolic health and enhanced brain function.

"Given the gut microbiota's location and its constant interaction with the GI tract, we have been gaining a deeper understanding of its pivotal role in dietary responses these last several years," says Alex Mohr, lead author of the new study.

"While limited in duration and sample size, this comprehensive investigation—which included the analysis of the gut microbiome, cytokines, fecal short-chain fatty acids and blood metabolites—underscores the intricate interplay between diet, host metabolism and microbial communities."

Mohr led the microbiome and molecular investigations, evaluating gut microbial composition, inflammatory molecules called cytokines, SCFAs (metabolites derived from dietary fiber, important for regulating energy balance) and the metabolome.

Mohr is a researcher with the Biodesign Center for Health Through Microbiomes at ASU. Rosa Krajmalnik-Brown, the center director, and researchers Devin Bowes, Karen Sweazea and Corrie Whisner are also contributors to the study.

Corresponding author Paul Anciero of the Department of Health and Human Physiological Sciences at Skidmore College led the clinical trial, which tracked weight loss and body composition.

The study also included contributions from ASU researchers Paniz Jasbi and Judith Klein-Seetharaman, with the School of Molecular Sciences, and Dorothy Sears and Haiwei Gu, with the College of Health Solutions.

Intermittent fasting has been shown to positively influence the gut microbiome by promoting the growth of beneficial bacteria, which can enhance overall digestive health. A new study shows the benefits of an intemittent fasting and protein pacing diet for weight management. 

Credit: The Biodesign institute at Arizona State University

Diet, microbiome and weight loss

The gut microbiome refers to the diverse community of microorganisms residing in the gastrointestinal tract, including bacteria, viruses, fungi and other microbes. Numbering in the many trillions of organisms, this complex ecosystem plays a crucial role in essential bodily functions and overall health.

The gut microbiome helps break down food, produce vitamins and promote the absorption of nutrients. It plays a role in the development and function of the immune system by protecting the body against harmful pathogens. Finally, the gut microbiome keenly regulates metabolism, impacting body weight, fat storage and insulin sensitivity.

Caloric restriction, intermittent fasting (limiting food consumption to certain windows on some days) and protein pacing (controlled protein intake at specific meals) have been shown to affect body weight and composition, but the effect of these dietary modifications on the gut microbiome has been unclear until now.

"A healthy gut microbiome is essential for overall health, particularly in managing obesity and metabolic diseases," says Sweazea, the ASU principal investigator of this study.

"The gut bacteria influence how we store fat, balance glucose levels and respond to hormones that make us feel hungry or full. Disruptions in the gut microbiota can lead to increased inflammation, insulin resistance and weight gain, underscoring the critical role of gut health in preventing and managing metabolic disorders."

Study and findings

The clinical trial involved 27 female and 14 male participants who were overweight or obese. Participants were divided into two groups: one following the intermittent fasting and protein pacing regimen, and the other adhering to a heart-healthy, calorie-restricted diet. Both groups were monitored over eight weeks for changes in weight, body composition, gut microbiome composition and plasma metabolomic signatures.

Participants following the intermittent fasting and protein pacing regimen experienced a significant reduction in gut symptoms and an increase in beneficial gut bacteria, particularly from the Christensenellaceae family. The study also found these microbes are associated with improved fat oxidation and metabolic health. In contrast, the calorie-restricted group showed an increase in metabolites linked to longevity-related pathways.

Despite both groups having similar average weekly energy intake, the intermittent fasting and protein pacing group achieved greater weight loss and fat reduction with an average loss of 8.81% of their initial body weights during the study. In comparison, those on a calorie-restricted diet lost an average of 5.4% body weight.

Participants who followed the intermittent fasting and protein-pacing diet experienced reductions in overall body fat, including belly fat and deep abdominal fat, and saw an increase in the percentage of lean body mass.

The study underscores the potential of intermittent fasting and protein-pacing diets in improving gut health and weight management. While further research is necessary, these findings offer a promising avenue for creating effective dietary interventions for obesity and related metabolic disorders.

"By identifying shifts in specific microbes, functional pathways and associated metabolites, this line of work holds promise for personalized health strategies as we can better tailor nutritional regimens to enhance gut function and metabolic outcomes," Mohr says.

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Health and Wellness News: Nicotine-like chemicals in US vapes may be more potent than nicotine, FDA says

 

Nicotine-like chemicals in US vapes may be more potent than nicotine, FDA says

6-methyl nicotine in vapes, potentially more addictive than traditional nicotine, is unregulated by the FDA, prompting concerns and calls for regulation due to unknown health risks.

By REUTERS, MAY 29, 2024 

https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/article-804228

A man poses for a picture, as he vapes at home in La Paz, Bolivia, February 2, 2019. Uploaded on 29/5/2024 (photo credit: DAVID MERCADO/REUTERS)

Nicotine alternatives used in vapes being launched in the US and abroad, such as 6-methyl nicotine, may be more potent and addictive than nicotine itself. However, the scientific data remains incomplete, according to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and independent researchers.

The synthetic substances - which have a chemical structure similar to that of nicotine - are not subject to US tobacco and vaping regulations that are designed to control traditional nicotine, a highly addictive drug.

That means manufacturers can sell vapes containing synthetic nicotine analogs such as 6-methyl nicotine in the United States without seeking authorization from the FDA - a process that can be costly, time-consuming, and often unsuccessful.

Big tobacco firms like Altria Group MO.N and British American Tobacco BATS.L have already lost substantial US sales to an influx of disposable vapes containing traditional nicotine that are being illegally sold without FDA authorization.

Altria, the maker of Marlboro cigarettes in the United States, highlighted the emerging use of 6-methyl nicotine in vapes and other smoking alternatives in a May 9 letter to the FDA, according to a copy of the correspondence posted on its website.

FDA urged to regulate nicotine analogs

 

 The Spree Bar, which contains a new chemical that mimics nicotine, along with it's eight different flavor offerings are seen on the counter at Sultans' Smoke in Arvada, Colorado, U.S., May 21, 2024. (credit: KEVIN MOHATT/REUTERS)

It urged the agency to evaluate the compounds and establish its authority over them, warning that they posed a "new threat" to sector regulation.

"The introduction and growth of chemicals intended to imitate the effects of nicotine, if left unchecked, could present unknown risks to US consumers and undermine FDA's authority," the letter said.

It cited SPREE BAR, a vape launched in October by Charlie's Holdings Inc CHUC.N that uses 6-methyl nicotine.

The FDA does not comment on its correspondence with individual firms.

In response to Reuters' questions about 6-methyl nicotine and other nicotine alternatives, the FDA said in a statement: "Although more research is needed, some emerging data show these nicotine analogs may be more potent than nicotine – which is already highly addictive, can alter adolescent brain development and have long-term effects on youth's attention, learning, and memory."

Traditional nicotine found in many vapes and pouches is extracted from tobacco leaves. 6-methyl nicotine, in contrast, is made entirely in the lab using chemicals.

The FDA said it was considering using such synthetic compounds from an "agency-wide perspective" and would use its resources to protect youth from products that may harm their health. In addition to tobacco products, the FDA regulates drugs, foods, cosmetics, and more to ensure safety and efficacy.

"The FDA is a data-driven agency, and we're reviewing the available data to inform potential actions in this space," it said in response to Reuters' questions.

Three academic researchers told the news agency that current studies of 6-methyl nicotine are too limited to draw definite conclusions on the health impact or to what degree it is addictive.

Imad Damaj, a professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at Virginia Commonwealth University, said his research showed that 6-methyl nicotine may be more potent than nicotine. Still, more extensive tests were needed to determine its impact on humans.

The researchers said the limitations of existing research included some papers being industry-funded. In contrast, others focused on the short-term impact on animals or cells and could not understand 6-methyl nicotine's effects on human bodies.

Charlie's Holdings calls the 6-methyl nicotine solution used in SPREE BAR Metatine. SPREE BAR's website says Metatine "may have a toxicity profile similar to nicotine."

SPREE BAR promises users 6,000 puffs from each device and offers fruity flavors, including "blue razz ice" and "creamy melon," according to its website.

The FDA has yet to approve any flavored vape using traditional nicotine for sale in the United States, saying companies have not been able to show that the health benefits they offer to smokers outweigh the known risks to young people, who the flavors may more attract.

Charlie's Holdings co-founder Ryan Stump told Reuters that the company only targets adults, adding that flavors played an essential role in its mission to help smokers quit cigarettes.

Stump said Charlie's Holdings respects and abides by laws in every market. He acknowledged that more research is needed on 6-methyl nicotine and added that the company dilutes it in its products.

 Targeting international markets

Anes Saleh sells SPREE BAR in his vape shop in Denver, Colorado, called Sultan Smoke. He said he has some customers who only buy Spree Bar instead of a nicotine vape, and he hasn't had any negative feedback on the product.

"The only... protest I would hear about people not wanting to try this is that they don't know what Metatine is or does," he said.

Stump said that Charlie's Holdings is working on new varieties of SPREE BAR and new products using 6-methyl nicotine. It will launch SPREE BAR internationally this year, but he declined to say where.

The company buys the 6-methyl nicotine solution used in SPREE BAR from another US firm, Novel Compounds, according to Novel Compounds' founder Samuel Benaim.

Novel Compounds imports 6-methyl nicotine from overseas and alters it to make it easier for manufacturers like Charlie's Holdings to use in their products. It sells this solution under the trade name imotine.

Benaim said tests commissioned by Novel Compounds have found 6-methyl nicotine to be no more harmful than nicotine. However, he also noted that more research was needed into the chemical.

Benaim added that Novel Compounds had received legal advice that its product is not classified as a tobacco product or drug in the United States. He said the company is committed to legal compliance.

More potent than nicotine?

Sven Jordt, a professor at Duke University who has authored papers on products like SPREE BAR, said 6-methyl nicotine could be more addictive and toxic than its traditional cousin.

"Do we want to have such a chemical as a recreational product available to anyone?" he asked. "That's really questionable."

Neither Jordt nor Damaj, a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, has received funding from tobacco or vape makers.

In the United States, Novel Compounds also sells its 6-methyl nicotine solution worldwide, including in the United Kingdom, Indonesia, India, and Japan.

Another company, Aroma King, sells 6-methyl nicotine in the United Kingdom in pouches, which users insert under the lip to get a buzz. The pouches are sold in cans decorated with graphics of gorillas in suits and sunglasses.

It said in a February blog post that its 6-methyl nicotine products were "less toxic," "less harmful," and "less addictive" than regular nicotine products.

In a statement to Reuters, Aroma King cited existing research, its toxicology and other tests, and its supplier, which classifies 6-methyl nicotine as less toxic under the European Union's Classification, Labelling and Packaging of Substances and Mixtures (CLP) Regulation.

Aroma King said its supplier self-classified 6-methyl nicotine. It declined to say who supplies it with the chemical.

Four Chinese companies hold patents in China related to the production of 6-methyl nicotine, including Zinwi Biotech, a company that makes the liquid used in vapes.

Zinwi Biotech confirmed it is researching 6-methyl nicotine but has not answered further questions, including whether it has sold any 6-methyl nicotine. Reuters was unable to find contact details for the other firms.

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Mysterious Arctic 'Zombie Fires' Might Not Be Old Flames After All

29 May 2024, By S. WIECZOREK ET AL., THE CONVERSATION

https://www.sciencealert.com/mysterious-arctic-zombie-fires-might-not-be-old-flames-after-all

Fire in boggy peat-based tundra in Alaska. 

(Western Arctic National Parklands/flickr/CC-BY-SA 2.0)

So-called "zombie fires" in the peatlands of Alaska, Canada and Siberia disappear from the Earth's surface and smoulder underground during the winter before coming back to life the following spring.

These fires puzzle scientists because they appear in early May, way ahead of the usual fire season in the far north, and can reignite for a number of years.

Most scientists believe that zombie fires are the remnants of fires on the surface, but we have identified an alternative cause. Our research suggests that rapid atmospheric warming above ground can cause peat soils to suddenly heat up to smouldering temperatures underground, all without any spark or other ignition. These zombie fires may be a case of climate change-driven spontaneous combustion.

Reports of such fires date back to 1940s, when they were rare events. However, the frequency and intensity of these fires has increased significantly in the past two decades, hand in hand with accelerated warming in the Arctic, the fastest-warming region on the planet.


At the start of 2024, more than 100 zombie fires were active in the Canadian province of British Columbia alone. Zombie fires have even been recorded near the coldest village on earth, Oymyakon in north eastern Siberia, where they carried over through multiple winters and account for around 3.5 percent of area burned in the wider region each year.

Red areas are warming fastest, while black and grey areas show carbon-rich peat soils. There is significant overlap between the two, such as in Cherskii in northern Siberia. O'Sullivan et al / Royal Society A 

(Data: Berkeley Earth / PEATMAP)

More carbon is trapped in temperature-sensitive Arctic peat soils than is found in the entire atmosphere, and these fires are releasing gigatonnes of it into the atmosphere. We wanted to know if sudden warming might be directly responsible.

Two remarkable results

We developed a mathematical model to explore different what-if scenarios, including how the temperature and carbon content of peat soils respond to changes in the weather and climate. Crucially, our model captures how certain microbes generate heat while breaking down soil and releasing its carbon into the atmosphere.

We obtained two remarkable results:

The first is that those microbes can generate so much heat that underground peat can smoulder at around 80° C over the winter, ready to ignite in spring. And this can happen without there ever having been a fire in that spot above ground, and without the weather above ground reaching the sorts of temperatures that would normally be needed for soil to burn.

We call this new state the hot metastable state of peat soils. In this context, "metastable" means a long burn – the hot state lasts for a long but finite time, up to ten years, until the peat burns out.

Our other key finding is that a sudden transition from the regular cold state to the hot metastable state can be triggered by realistic climate patterns alone, including summer heat waves and global warming scenarios.

Most interestingly, the increase in the atmospheric temperature has to be faster than some critical rate to trigger the transition. If the atmospheric temperature increases by the same amount, but at a slower rate, bioactive peat soil remains in the regular cold state and never transitions to the hot metastable state.

We still do not have proof this happening in the real world, and it hasn't been demonstrated in a lab – for now, this is a phenomenon seen only in our models.

But we do know that compost (very similar to peat) can catch fire in the same way. For instance a large fire on the outskirts of London during a heatwave in 2022 was probably caused by a pile of compost spontaneously combusting.

All this suggests that atmospheric temperature is not actually the key critical factor for zombie fires. Rather, it is the rate of atmospheric warming that triggers long burns of underground peat. Put simply, it is not the heat, it is the rate.

How to fight the zombies

As the climate warms, the weather is becoming more extreme, and these are precisely the conditions that can lead to more and more zombie fires. This is concerning as it could kick off a vicious cycle: the gigatonnes of carbon released from ancient peat soils into the atmosphere are likely to make the climatic changes even worse, which means more fires, so more extreme weather, and so on.

Indeed, zombie fires are an example of a rate-induced tipping point, where a system fails to adapt to too-fast changes in external conditions and transitions from its regular state to a different, often undesired state.

It is possible that the contemporary climate is approaching – or has already exceeded – dangerous rates of change for certain natural system, such as bioactive peat soils, which could explain the recent increase in zombie fires.

It appears that the only solution to prevent further zombie fires is to limit climate variability. While policy makers focus on dangerous levels of atmospheric temperature (the heat), climate variability (the rate of change) could be equally or even more relevant to our resilience in the short term.

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Research examines how recreational marijuana legalization affects a state's college enrollment

MAY 29, 2024, by Wiley

https://phys.org/news/2024-05-recreational-marijuana-legalization-affects-state.html

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

New research has revealed up to a 9% increase in college first-year enrollments in US states that have legalized recreational marijuana compared with states without such legalization. The study, which is published in Economic Inquiry, found that the increase was from out-of-state enrollments, with early adopter states and public non-research institutions experiencing the most pronounced increases.

Recreational marijuana legalization did not negatively impact degree completion or graduation rate, and it did not affect college prices, quality, or in‐state enrollment.

The findings suggest that some students perceive recreational marijuana legalization as a positive factor that influences their college choice.

"Future research should focus on how this policy impacts peer dynamics and the selection of academic disciplines, with a special emphasis on differentiating between STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics] and non-STEM fields," said the study's author Ahmed El Fatmaoui, MBA, a graduate student at the University of Oklahoma.

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