Early warning signals could help monitor disease outbreaks

New research suggests early warning signals (EWSs) could help in the monitoring of disease outbreaks, such as COVID-19. The study, led by the University of Bristol, found warnings could be detected weeks earlier than any rapid increase in cases. The findings could help governments and policy makers improve the accuracy of their decisions and allow timely interventions if needed.

Using a novel, sequential analysis combined with daily COVID-19 case data across 24 countries, the research, published today [8 December] in Biology Letters, suggests EWSs can predict COVID-19 waves. The researchers found that warnings were regularly detectable prior to exponential cases changes. but the reliability of these signals depended on the amount of time between successive waves of infection and the mathematical likelihood of a critical transition, Consequently, EWSs showed highest accuracy for waves that experienced a suppressed R number over a long period before the outbreak.

As the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has shown, being able to identify rapid increases in cases before they occur is important for people to modify their behaviors, and to inform government actions.

Duncan O’Brien in Bristol’s School of Biological Sciences said: “We’ve always been aware that any technique that’s able to predict the appearance of disease would be useful in protecting human health. This has never been more apparent with the global COVID-19 pandemic and the many discussions around when governments should put interventions in place.

“Our research found that hotly debated early warning signals were most reliable before the second COVID-19 wave that was experienced by many, and whilst these signals performed less well for the first and third waves, any rapid increase in cases could be identified well in advance.

Regular exercise reduces the risk of and death from pneumonia

People who exercise regularly can reduce their risk of developing and dying from pneumonia, new research has found. The study, led by the University of Bristol and published in GeroScience, analyzed, for the first time, ten population cohort studies with over one million participants.

The benefits of regular exercise are well-known and can reduce the risk, length or severity of infectious diseases. Previous research has suggested that regular exercise might be associated with a reduced risk of pneumonia, but the studies have had mixed findings with some reporting evidence of a relationship and others no evidence.

The researchers carried out a pooled analysis of all published studies to re-evaluate the relationship between regular exercise and the risk of developing pneumonia.

The questions the study aimed to answer included:

• Is there an association between regular physical activity and future risk of pneumonia?
• If there is an association, what is the strength and nature of the association?
• If there is an association, is it stronger or weaker in specific groups of people?

The study found people who exercise regularly have a lower risk of developing pneumonia and pneumonia-related death compared to those who were the least or not physically active. The relationship was shown for pneumonias that did not result in death and those that resulted in death. The results did not change on taking into account known factors that can affect pneumonia such as age, sex, body mass index, socioeconomic status, alcohol consumption, smoking, and pre-existing diseases. The strength of the association did not vary by age or sex.

You can help scientists study the Sun

In this new citizen science project, participants will help identify bursts of plasma coming off the Sun, called solar jets, in thousands of images captured over the last 11 years by NASA’s Solar Dynamic Observatory.
Image credit: NASA, Zooniverse

If you ever wanted to be an astronomer, now is your chance. A new citizen science project, led by researchers at the University of Minnesota with support from NASA, allows volunteers to play an important role in learning more about the Sun by using their personal computers.

Participants will help identify bursts of plasma coming off the Sun, called solar jets, in thousands of images captured over the last 11 years by NASA’s Solar Dynamic Observatory.

The project, called Solar Jet Hunter, is the newest citizen science project under the Zooniverse platform originated at the University of Minnesota. Zooniverse is the world’s largest and most popular people-powered online research platform with more than two million volunteers from around the world. These volunteers act as armchair scientists and archivists helping academic research teams with their projects from the comfort of their own homes.

Innovative plankton monitoring tool holds key to assessing health of ocean life

Researchers from the University of Plymouth have helped to create a free, online tool to make complex plankton datasets easier and more accessible for all.

The Plankton Lifeform Extraction Tool (PLET) brings together separate plankton datasets into one central database and formats the data into pre-defined lifeforms, making it easier for marine biologists to access robust, reliable plankton data.

This data will give a more accurate picture of the spatial and temporal location of ocean plankton and in turn provide data and critical information to inform policy, public interest and scientific discovery.

The online tool, hosted by the Archive for Marine Species and Habitats Data (DASSH) was developed by researchers from 15 partners across Europe.

Lead author Dr Clare Ostle, from the Marine Biological Association, said:

“This has been many years in the making, and it’s great to see it come together. Plankton underpin so many important processes in the marine world, and making that data more user-friendly and accessible is key to answering important questions.”

Plankton form the base of the marine food web, help to regulate the ocean chemistry and provide approximately half of the world’s oxygen.

Because plankton have short life cycles, drift freely in the ocean and have wide distributions, they are sensitive indicators to climate change, and therefore play an important role for scientists monitoring changes in ocean biodiversity.

Although there are a number of programs that monitor plankton, the lack of direct comparison between datasets means that assessing plankton changes has been difficult and limited.

Melting glaciers may produce thousands of kilometers of new Pacific salmon habitat

Sockeye salmon (Photo: Freshwaters Illustrated)

Retreating glaciers in the Pacific mountains of western North America could produce around 6,150 kilometers of new Pacific salmon habitat by the year 2100, according to a new study.

Scientists have ‘peeled back the ice’ from 46,000 glaciers between southern British Columbia and south-central Alaska to look at how much potential salmon habitat would be created when underlying bedrock is exposed and new streams flow over the landscape.

Modeling glacier retreat under different climate change scenarios, researchers discovered that, under a moderate temperature increase, the glaciers could reveal potential new Pacific salmon habitat nearly equal to the length of the Mississippi River (6,275 km).

Desirable for salmon, in this case, means low-gradient streams (less than 10% incline) connected to the ocean with retreating glaciers at their headwaters. The team discovered that 315 of the glaciers examined met this criteria.

The international team, led by researchers at Simon Fraser University (Canada) with the University of Birmingham and other organizations, published their findings today in Nature Communications.

Lead author, Simon Fraser University spatial analyst Dr. Kara Pitman comments: “We predict that most of the emerging salmon habitat will occur in Alaska and the transboundary region, at the British Columbia‒Alaska border, where large coastal glaciers still exist. The Gulf of Alaska sub-region is predicted to see the most gains—a 27% increase in salmon-accessible habitat by 2100.

For the first time, civil /commercial operators in the U.S can purchase new Black Hawk aircraft

The first-of-type S-70M Black Hawk helicopter departs from the Sikorsky Training Academy in Florida Nov. 18 having received the FAA’s Certificate of Airworthiness.
Source/Credit: Lockheed Martin Corporation

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has completed its certification of the S-70M Black Hawk helicopter — a new type designation — by issuing Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company (NYSE: LMT) a Restricted Category Special Airworthiness Certificate. FAA certification, and the establishment of a pilot type rating, are expected to broaden the market for the military-designed helicopter by allowing civil and commercial operators in the United States to purchase new Black Hawk aircraft direct from the factory.

“With type certification, new production S-70M Black Hawk helicopters in the latest configuration are available to the U.S. commercial/civil market for the first time,” said Jason Lambert, vice president of Sikorsky Global Commercial & Military Systems. “Internationally, where the FAA restricted category is not widely accepted, we can now discuss with other civil aviation authorities the potential of validating the aircraft for challenging civil operations in their countries’ airspace.”

“We thank the FAA for its rigorous evaluation of the first S-70M aircraft, and FlightSafety International for its partnership to upgrade an S-70i™ flight simulator and training curriculum to S-70M FAA standards,” he said. “We also congratulate and welcome our first S-70M customer, San Diego Gas & Electric, which requires the rugged design and lift capacity of the Black Hawk helicopter to perform the demanding aerial firefighting mission.”

Iron integral to the development of life on Earth, and the possibility of life on other planets

Early Earth on the left, had seas infused with life-enhancing iron, whereas Earth today, seen on the right, does not.
Image credit: Mark A. Garlick / markgarlick.com

Iron integral to the development of life on Earth – and the possibility of life on other planets

Researchers at the University of Oxford uncover the importance of iron for the development of complex life on Earth – which also may hint at the likelihood of complex life on other planets.

Iron is an essential nutrient that almost all life requires to grow and thrive. Iron’s importance goes all the way back to the formation of the planet Earth, where the amount of iron in the Earth’s rocky mantle was ‘set’ by the conditions under which the planet formed and went on to have major ramifications for how life developed. Now, scientists at the University of Oxford have uncovered the likely mechanisms by which iron influenced the development of complex life forms, which can also be used to understand how likely (or unlikely) advanced life forms might be on other planets. The work was published today in PNAS.

‘The initial amount of iron in Earth’s rocks is ‘set’ by the conditions of planetary accretion, during which the Earth’s metallic core segregated from its rocky mantle,’ says co-author Jon Wade, Associate Professor of Planetary Materials at the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford. ‘Too little iron in the rocky portion of the planet, like the planet Mercury, and life is unlikely. Too much, like Mars, and water may be difficult to keep on the surface for times relevant to the evolution of complex life.’

Study untangles mitochondria to reap rewards of exercise

New research has uncovered how mitochondria – the energy powerhouse of our cells implicated in devastating mitochondrial disease, type 2 diabetes and cancers – respond to exercise training in unprecedented detail.

 joint study between the University of Melbourne and Victoria University, with collaborators at the German Diabetes Center, Monash University, and the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, have successfully linked minutes of exercise to specific mitochondrial changes that support improved metabolism.

In work published in Nature Communications, the University of Melbourne’s Dr Stroud from the School of Biomedical Sciences, and colleagues detail how they used state-of-the art equipment at the University of Melbourne’s Bio21 Molecular Science and Biotechnology Institute’s Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics Faculty to analyze in detail how our muscles respond to exercise.

While mitochondria are hugely important as they convert sugars, fats and protein into energy used for muscle contraction, cell growth and brain activity among other things, maintaining mitochondrial health is critical not just to various debilitating disease states where mitochondrial function is impaired, but also the quality of life of otherwise healthy people.

The team were able to discover ten times more mitochondrial proteins that respond to exercise training than documented in previous studies.

Researchers examine neurotoxin from a Black Widow

The team used cryo-electron microscopy to reveal the structures of toxins specific to insects and crustaceans (right) from the Black Widow (left).
© Photo: nickybay.com; Figure: Gatsogiannis team

Phobias are often irrational by nature – especially in the case of spiders, as these creatures are usually more afraid of humans than vice-versa. But: some species are a force to be reckoned with – for example, the Latrodectus spider, more commonly known as the Black Widow. It catches its prey by using venom – to be precise, latrotoxins (LaTXs), a subclass of neurotoxins, or nerve poisons. A bite from a Black Widow can be fatal for humans. 

The exact structure of the nerve poison was previously unclear, but Prof. Christos Gatsogiannis from the Institute of Medical Physics and Biophysics at Münster University investigated the substance – not only because of its uniqueness, but also with a view to possible medical applications. Using cryo-EM, and in collaboration with Gatsogiannis’ former colleagues at the Max Planck Institute in Dortmund and with researchers at Jacobs University Bremen, the team of Münster researchers succeeded in explaining the first structure of a latrotoxin. The team’s findings have now been published in the Nature Communications journal.

Neurotoxins are probably known to many non-specialists – in the form of botox, which is often used in cosmetic surgery. The Black Widow’s poison, however, has anything but a “beautifying” effect: LaTX was developed by nature primarily in order to immobilize insects – or simply kill them straight off. In the process, the toxins dock onto specific receptors on the surface of nerve cells and cause neurotransmitters to be released, for example through a calcium channel. As a result of the constant inflow of calcium ions into the cell, transmitters are given off which lead to seizures.

Primates vs cobras: how our last common ancestor built venom resistance

Associate Professor Bryan Fry

The last common ancestor of chimps, gorillas and humans developed an increased resistance toward cobra venom, according to University of Queensland-led research.

Scientists used animal-free testing techniques to show that African and Asian primates evolved resistance toward the venoms of large, daytime-active cobras and discovered that our last common ancestor with chimps and gorillas evolved even stronger resistance.

University of Queensland PhD candidate Richard Harris said African and Asian primates developed venom resistance after a long evolutionary arms race.

“As primates from Africa gained the ability to walk upright and dispersed throughout Asia, they developed weapons to defend themselves against venomous snakes, this likely sparked an evolutionary arms race and evolving this venom resistance,” Mr. Harris said.

“This was just one of many evolutionary defenses – many primate groups appear to also have developed excellent eyesight, which is thought to have aided them in detecting and defending themselves against venomous snakes.

“But Madagascan Lemurs and Central and South American monkeys, which live in regions that haven’t been colonized by or come in close contact with neurotoxic venomous snakes, didn’t evolve this kind of resistance to snake venoms and have poorer eyesight.

“It’s been long-theorized that snakes have strongly influenced primate evolution, but we now have additional biological evidence to support this theory.”