Extinct ground sloth was an omnivore

Julia Tejada sampling a specimen of the North American ground sloth.
(Copyright: Julia Tejada)

A study co-authored by University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa scientists suggests that Mylodon—a ground sloth that lived in South America until about 10,000 to 12,000 years ago—was not a strict vegetarian like all of its living relatives. Based on a chemical analysis of amino acids preserved in sloth hair, the researchers uncovered evidence that this gigantic extinct sloth was an omnivore, at times eating meat or other animal protein in addition to plant matter.

Led by researchers at the American Museum of Natural History and published in Scientific Reports, the study contradicts previous assumptions about the animal and provides the first direct evidence of omnivory in an ancient sloth species.

Even though the six living sloth species all are relatively small plant-eating tree dwellers restricted to tropical forests of Central and South America, hundreds of fossil sloth species, some as large as an elephant, roamed ancient landscapes from Alaska to the southern tip of South America. Mylodon darwinii, also known as “Darwin’s ground sloth,” is thought to have weighed between 2,200 and 4,400 pounds and was nearly 10 feet long.

Based on dental characteristics, jaw biomechanics, preserved excrement from some very recent fossil species, and the fact that all living sloths exclusively eat plants, Mylodon and its extinct relatives have long been presumed to be herbivores as well. But these factors could not directly reveal whether an animal might have ingested food that requires little or no preparation and is completely digested, as happens in carcass scavenging or some other kinds of meat eating.

New tool can identify harmful blue-green algae

A new way to detect early signs of harmful blue-green algae, which bloom in lakes, rivers and reservoirs around the world, has been developed by researchers at the University of Birmingham together with researchers at the Culture Collection of Algae & Protozoa (CCAP), based at the Scottish Association of Marine Science.

Blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria, present huge environmental problems. Large scale break-outs, or blooms, spread across bodies of water, depleting the oxygen supply and reducing light, killing fish and other aquatic animals. In addition, some algae can produce toxins that are harmful to animals and humans.

Detecting these blooms – at a sufficiently early stage to prevent them reaching dangerous levels – is not straightforward because of the thousands of different species of algae that could be present. As algae are a vital part of many water systems, it is only those species which become harmful that may need these preventative measures.

Researchers in the University of Birmingham’s School of Biosciences have designed a new approach which uses mass spectrometry – a way of identifying specific molecules by their mass – to identify key protein features within the algae that are unique to each species, enabling them to be rapidly identified. Using recently developed, high resolution techniques, the team found they were able to produce highly specific ‘fingerprints’ that each correspond to specific cyanobacterial species. The work is published in Analytical Chemistry.

Physicists announce results that boost evidence for new fundamental physics

View of the LHCb detector 
Credit: CERN

In March 2020, the same experiment released evidence of particles breaking one of the core principles of the Standard Model – our best theory of particles and forces – suggesting the possible existence of new fundamental particles and forces.

Now, further measurements by physicists at Cambridge’s Cavendish Laboratory have found similar effects, boosting the case for new physics.

The Standard Model describes all the known particles that make up the universe and the forces that they interact through. It has passed every experimental test to date, and yet physicists know it must be incomplete. It does not include the force of gravity, nor can it account for how matter was produced during the Big Bang, and contains no particle that could explain the mysterious dark matter that astronomy tells us is five times more abundant than the stuff that makes up the visible world around us.

As a result, physicists have long been hunting for signs of physics beyond the Standard Model that might help us to address some of these mysteries.

One of the best ways to search for new particles and forces is to study particles known as beauty quarks. These are exotic cousins of the up and down quarks that make up the nucleus of every atom.

Electric trucks: ultra-fast charging in the megawatt range

Trucks with electric drives could soon be used in long-distance transport.
Image: iStockphoto.com / Chesky_W

It is an ambitious goal: By 2030 the German government aims to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 65 percent compared to 1990. But how? With partners from industry and research institutes, scientists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) are working on prototypes for an electric-powered truck and the charging station it will need.

“Freight transport on our roads is responsible for more than one third of our national greenhouse gas emissions,” says Sebastian Wolff of the TUM Chair of Automotive Technology. Consequently, new truck concepts will be needed if Germany wants to drastically cut its CO2 emissions by 2030.

In the NEFTON project, which is funded by the Federal Ministry of the Economy, engineers working in industry and research are developing a prototype for an electric truck and a charging station to power it.

The first battery-powered truck prototypes are currently being tested with customers serving short-haul routes. A long-haul truck needs to cover 500 kilometers or more in a day, however. That means that the battery would have to be charged at least on a daily basis. That would be a big adjustment for drivers, who currently visit a gas station perhaps once in five days.

Untangling the heart’s genome: now in 3D

Research led by Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute and Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute (BDI) researchers at Monash University has combined cutting-edge genomics and 3D “gaming” modelling to understand how all genes are expressed in different parts of the heart, unveiling complex patterns and novel markers. To help visualize this new research, the team, led by Monash group leaders Associate Professor Mirana Ramialison and Professor Jose Polo in collaboration with Dr Fernando Rossello, has developed a powerful tool called 3D-cardiomics.

This work has been recently published in the Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology.

“One of the outstanding challenges in genomics research is understanding the physical context,” noted Associate Professor Ramialison, who has recently moved her research group to the Murdoch Children Research Institute to continue her work in heart development and genomics. “We can detect when gene expression is up or down-regulated in any number of tissues on a global level, but what is more complicated is understanding the spatial relationships in three dimensions. This is key to uncovering developmental and physiological processes of the heart, during both homeostasis and disease.”

The research team micro dissected and sequenced transcriptome-wide 18 anatomical sections of the adult mouse heart with this aim in mind. The study results unveiled known and novel genes that display complex spatial expression across the heart sub-compartments.

Interferon does not improve outcomes for hospitalized adults with COVID-19

Colorized scanning electron micrograph of a human cell
heavily infected with SARS-CoV-2 virus particles (red). NIAID

 A clinical trial has found that treatment with the immunomodulator interferon beta-1a plus the antiviral remdesivir was not superior to treatment with remdesivir alone in hospitalized adults with COVID-19 pneumonia. In addition, in a subgroup of patients who required high-flow oxygen, investigators found that interferon beta-1a was associated with more adverse events and worse outcomes. These findings were published today in the journal The Lancet Respiratory Medicine.

The study, called the Adaptive COVID-19 Treatment Trial 3 (ACTT-3), took place from August 5, 2020 to December 21, 2020. It was sponsored and funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health.

Interferon beta-1a has the same amino acid sequence as a naturally occurring protein called interferon beta, which is in a class of proteins called type 1 interferons. Infected cells normally produce type 1 interferons to help the immune system fight pathogens, especially viruses. Interferon beta has both antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties.

Laboratory studies have shown that the normal type 1 interferon response is suppressed after infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. In addition, previous studies of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 demonstrated reduced production of interferon in response to SARS-CoV-2 infection in many patients, and this was associated with more severe disease. Other laboratory studies and clinical data supported the hypothesis that treatment with interferon beta-1a might improve health outcomes in people with COVID-19.

Fasting is required to see the full benefit of calorie restriction in mice

Over the last few decades, scientists have discovered that long-term calorie restriction provides a wealth of benefits in animals: lower weight, better blood sugar control, even longer lifespans.

Researchers have largely assumed that reduced food intake drove these benefits by reprogramming metabolism. But a new study from University of Wisconsin­–Madison researchers finds that reduced calorie intake alone is not enough; fasting is essential for mice to derive full benefit.

The new findings lend support to preliminary evidence that fasting can boost health in people, as trends like intermittent fasting continue to hold sway. These human and animal studies have added to the growing picture of how health is controlled by when and what we eat, not just how much.

The research further emphasizes the complexity of nutrition and metabolism and provides guidance to researchers trying to untangle the true causes of diet-induced health benefits in animals and humans.

The researchers discovered that, combined with eating less, fasting reduces frailty in old age and extends the lifespan of mice. And fasting alone can improve blood sugar and liver metabolism.

Surprisingly, mice that ate fewer calories but never fasted died younger than mice that ate as much as they wanted, suggesting that calorie restriction alone may be harmful.

Cell fitness used to determine outcomes in COVID patients

Cell fitness has been identified as a way of predicting health outcomes in COVID patients, according to a University of Queensland study.

The study investigated a cellular fitness marker, known as hfwe-Lose, to identify sub-optimal cells in patients who had been hospitalized or died from COVID at the start of the pandemic.

UQ Diamantina Institute’s Dr Arutha Kulasinghe said researchers conducted post-mortem analysis on COVID-infected lung tissues and found that the cell fitness marker influenced a person’s immune response to infection.

“We found that patients with acute lung injury had higher levels of the biomarker in their lower respiratory tract and areas of cell death,” Dr Kulasinghe said.

“More importantly, we also found that the cell fitness marker outperformed conventional methods, such as age, inflammation and co-existing diseases, in predicting health outcomes, such as hospitalization and death, in COVID patients.”

Assessing the level of risk in developing severe COVID infection is an important consideration in the management of the current pandemic.

Dr Kulasinghe said the study findings might be useful in the early triage of patients who test positive for COVID as the cell fitness marker could be identified via a simple nasal swab.

“The cell fitness marker would enable medical teams to identify patients more likely to develop severe symptoms, provide closer monitoring and earlier access to hospitalization and intensive care,” he said.

“We are now looking to validate our findings in larger patient populations to determine the robustness of the marker.

“The cell fitness marker is part of the body’s process for removing unwanted cells."

This study was conducted in partnership with the University of Copenhagen

Source/Credit: University of Queensland

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J&J coronavirus vaccine produces low antibody response

Photo by Frank Merino from Pexels

In a head-to-head comparison of the three widely used coronavirus vaccines in the United States, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine yielded a strikingly lower antibody response in a Stanford School of Medicine-led study published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

The study, which analyzed early vaccine immune response in 2,099 dialysis patients, found that 33% of those vaccinated with Johnson & Johnson did not develop coronavirus antibodies, compared with 4% of those who received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and 2% who received the Moderna vaccine. The study is one of the first to compare immune response associated with antibody levels using the same blood test for all three vaccines.

“We weren’t expecting this large a difference between vaccines,” said Shuchi Anand, MD, assistant professor of nephrology and a lead author of the study. “Since part of the rationale for boosters is waning antibody response, our study strongly argues for the need for booster shots for Johnson & Johnson, particularly in the immunocompromised population.”

Less protection

Pablo Garcia, MD, a postdoctoral scholar in nephrology and co-lead author of the study, agreed that people vaccinated with the J&J vaccine are probably less protected from the coronavirus and will “most likely need a booster shot.”

The researchers, who set out to analyze antibody response in the early post-vaccination period, collaborated with a nonprofit dialysis provider that treats kidney patients undergoing dialysis in California, Tennessee, Texas and New Jersey. The tests were conducted between 28 and 60 days after each patient had been fully vaccinated.

A new treatment for glaucoma?

Photo by Ksenia Chernaya from Pexels

A Northwestern Medicine study in mice has identified new treatment targets for glaucoma, including preventing a severe pediatric form of glaucoma, as well as uncovering a possible new class of therapy for the most common form of glaucoma in adults.

In people with high pressure glaucoma, fluid in the eye doesn’t properly drain and builds up pressure on the optic nerve, leading to vision loss. It affects 60 million people worldwide and is the most common cause of blindness in people over 60 years old.

While there are a few treatments available for open angle glaucoma, the most common form of glaucoma in adults (eye drops, oral medication, laser treatments), there are no cures, and a severe form of glaucoma in children between birth and three years old known as primary congenital glaucoma can only be treated with surgery.

“Although primary congenital glaucoma is much rarer than open angle glaucoma, it is devastating for children,” said corresponding author Dr. Susan Quaggin, chief of nephrology and hypertension in the Department of Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “New treatments and new classes of treatments are urgently needed to slow vision loss in both forms.

Using gene editing, the scientists in the study developed new models of glaucoma in mice that resembled primary congenital glaucoma. By injecting a new, long-lasting and non-toxic protein treatment (Hepta-ANGPT1) into mice, the scientists were able to replace the function of genes that, when mutated, cause glaucoma. With this injectable treatment, the scientists also successfully prevented glaucoma from ever forming in one model. This same therapy, when injected into the eyes of healthy adult mice, reduced pressure in the eyes, supporting it as a possible new class of therapy for the most common cause of glaucoma in adults (high intraocular pressure open angle glaucoma).

The study, “Cellular crosstalk regulates the aqueous humor outflow pathway and provides new targets for glaucoma therapies," was published Oct. 18 in the journal Nature Communications. (PDF)

The next step is to develop the appropriate delivery system for the successful new protein treatment in patients and bring it to production, Quaggin said.