A new study, led by UNSW Sydney PhD student Rose O'Dea, has explored patterns in academic grades of 1.6 million students, showing that girls and boys perform very similarly in STEM -- including at the top of the class. The analysis, published today in the journal Nature Communications, casts doubt on the view that there are fewer women in STEM-related jobs because they aren't as capable in those subjects as men -- a notion that has been supported by the concept that gender differences in variability lead to gender gaps in associated fields. In their meta-analysis, the UNSW researchers compared gender differences in variation of academic grades from over 1.6 million students aged six through to university from all over the world, across 268 different schools and classrooms. "We combined data from hundreds of studies, and used a method developed by my supervisor to comprehensively test for greater male variability in academic performance," lead author Rose O'Dea says. A classroom with more variable grades indicates a bigger gap between high and low performing students, and greater male variability could result in boys outnumbering girls at the top and bottom of the class. "Greater male variability is an old idea that people have used to claim that there will always be more male geniuses -- and fools -- in society," O'Dea says. The team found that on average, girls' grades were higher than boys', and girls' grades were less variable than boys'. "We already knew that girls routinely outperform boys at school, and we also expected female grades to be less variable than those of males, so that wasn't surprising. In fact, our study suggests that these two factors haven't changed in 80 years," O'Dea says. "However, what was most surprising was that both of these gender differences were far larger in non-STEM subjects, like English. In STEM subjects girls and boys received surprisingly similar grades, in both average and variability." In other words, the researchers demonstrated that academic STEM achievements of boys and girls are very similar -- in fact, the analysis suggests that the top 10% of a class contained equal numbers of girls and boys. O'Dea says that there are multiple reasons that these figures don't translate into equivalent participation in STEM jobs later in life. "Even if men and women have equal abilities, STEM isn't an equal playing field for women -- and so women often go down paths with less male competition. "For example, we found that the ability overlap between girls and boys is much greater in STEM, and smaller in non-STEM subjects, meaning that there are fewer boys competing with girls in non-STEM subjects. "So say you're a girl in a class and you're a straight A student. In your math class, you're surrounded by top-achieving boys, and then in English there's fewer boys that you're competing with, so it can look like non-STEM is an easier option or a safer path." Stereotypical societal beliefs about what fields girls are seen to be successful in also play a role. "Girls are susceptible to conforming to stereotypes in the traditionally male-dominated fields of STEM. Girls who try to succeed in these fields are often hindered by backlash effects," O'Dea says. "For example, the stereotype that girls aren't good at maths actually makes it harder for girls to be good at maths, both because of the way we perceive ourselves and the way other people perceive us. We all have subconscious biases, and there's a strange phenomenon called stereotype threat, where being reminded of the stereotype connected to your identity can make it harder to defy that stereotype." O'Dea says that there's no simple fix to work on the underrepresentation of women in STEM. "Science and academia have a lot of structural issues that will take time to fix. However, there's a lot we can do to encourage girls to perform better at maths -- for example, girls tend to do better when they're taught by a woman with a strong maths background, so they can see they can do maths, too." Professor Emma Johnston, Dean of Science at UNSW, says a lot needs to be done to encourage girls to choose a STEM path. "This powerful, evidence-based research has revealed that girls and boys are equally good at STEM subjects. Differential participation in STEM training and STEM careers must therefore be explained by other factors. "Australia really needs more women to enter, stay, and succeed in STEM areas. We absolutely need to change the structural barriers to gender equality in science, but we must also change the strong negative stereotypes and unconscious biases as well. We must give our girls and women more successful science role models -- something grand to aspire to. "We all need to actively work to close this gap -- for example, UNSW's Women in Maths and Science Champions Program is a unique opportunity to support women who are completing their PhD in UNSW Science. The program focuses on strengthening the cohort's communication and leadership skills to support their professional careers and their lifelong role of advocacy to inspire women to pursue a career in maths and science. "The author of this landmark study is a great example -- Rose is an incredible role model and her leadership in traditionally male-dominated fields like science and the AFL is inspiring to many girls," Professor Johnston concludes.

In a thin film of a solar-energy material, molecules in twin domains (modeled in left and right panels) align in opposing orientations within grain boundaries (shown by scanning electron microscopy in the center panel). Strain can change chemical segregation and may be engineered to tune photovoltaic efficiency. A unique combination of imaging tools and atomic-level simulations has allowed a team led by the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory to solve a longstanding debate about the properties of a promising material that can harvest energy from light. The researchers used multimodal imaging to "see" nanoscale interactions within a thin film of hybrid organic-inorganic perovskite, a material useful for solar cells. They determined that the material is ferroelastic, meaning it can form domains of polarized strain to minimize elastic energy. This finding was contrary to previous assumptions that the material is ferroelectric, meaning it can form domains of polarized electric charge to minimize electric energy. "We found that people were misguided by the mechanical signal in standard electromechanical measurements, resulting in the misinterpretation of ferroelectricity," said Yongtao Liu of ORNL, whose contribution to the study became a focus of his PhD thesis at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK). Olga Ovchinnikova, who directed the experiments at ORNL's Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS), added, "We used multimodal chemical imaging -- scanning probe microscopy combined with mass spectrometry and optical spectroscopy -- to show that this material is ferroelastic and how the ferroelasticity drives chemical segregation." The findings, reported in Nature Materials, revealed that differential strains cause ionized molecules to migrate and segregate within regions of the film, resulting in local chemistry that may affect the transport of electric charge. The understanding that this unique suite of imaging tools enables allows researchers to better correlate structure and function and fine-tune energy-harvesting films for improved performance. "We want to predictively make grains of particular sizes and geometries," Liu said. "The geometry is going to control the strain, and the strain is going to control the local chemistry." For their experiment, the researchers made a thin film by spin-casting a perovskite on an indium tin oxide-coated glass substrate. This process created the conductive, transparent surface a photovoltaic device would need -- but also generated strain. To relieve the strain, tiny ferroelastic domains formed. One type of domain was "grains," which look like what you might see flying over farmland with patches of different crops skewed in relation to one another. Within grains, sub-domains formed, similar to rows of two plant types alternating in a patch of farmland. These adjacent but opposing rows are "twin domains" of segregated chemicals. The technique that scientists previously used to claim the material was ferroelectric was piezoresponse force microscopy ("piezo" means "pressure), in which the tip of an atomic force microscope (AFM) measures a mechanical displacement due to its coupling with electric polarization -- namely, electromechanical displacement. "But you're not actually measuring the true displacement of the material," Ovchinnikova warned. "You're measuring the deflection of this whole 'diving board' of the cantilever." Therefore, the researchers used a new measurement technique to separate cantilever dynamics from displacement of the material due to piezoresponse -- the Interferometric Displacement Sensor (IDS) option for the Cypher AFM, developed by co-author Roger Proksch, CEO of Oxford Instruments Asylum Research. They found the response in this material is from cantilever dynamics alone and is not a true piezoresponse, proving the material is not ferroelectric. "Our work shows the effect believed due to ferroelectric polarization can be explained by chemical segregation," Liu said. The study's diverse microscopy and spectroscopy measurements provided experimental data to validate atomic-level simulations. The simulations bring predictive insights that could be used to design future materials. "We're able to do this because of the unique environment at CNMS where we have characterization, theory and synthesis all under one roof," Ovchinnikova said. "We didn't just utilize mass spectrometry because [it] gives you information about local chemistry. We also used optical spectroscopy and simulations to look at the orientation of the molecules, which is important for understanding these materials. Such a cohesive chemical imaging capability at ORNL leverages our functional imaging." Collaborations with industry allow ORNL to have unique tools available for scientists, including those that settled the debate about the true nature of the light-harvesting material. For example, an instrument that uses helium ion microscopy (HIM) to remove and ionize molecules was coupled with a secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) to identify molecules based on their weights. The HIM-SIMS instrument ZEISS ORION NanoFab was made available to ORNL from developer ZEISS for beta testing and is one of only two such instruments in the world. Similarly, the IDS instrument from Asylum Research, which is a laser Doppler vibrometer, was also made available to ORNL for beta testing and is the only one in existence. "Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers are naturally a good fit for working with industry because they possess unique expertise and are able to first use the tools the way they're meant to," said Proksch of Asylum. "ORNL has a facility [CNMS] that makes instruments and expertise available to many scientific users who can test tools on different problems and provide strong feedback during beta testing as vendors develop and improve the tools, in this case our new IDS metrological AFM."

A team of researchers at the University of Delaware's Center for Catalytic Science and Technology (CCST) has discovered a novel two-step process to increase the efficiency of carbon dioxide (CO2) electrolysis, a chemical reaction driven by electrical currents that can aid in the production of valuable chemicals and fuels. The results of the team's study were published Monday, Aug. 20 in Nature Catalysis. The research team, consisting of Feng Jiao, associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, and graduate students Matthew Jouny and Wesley Luc, obtained their results by constructing a specialized three-chambered device called an electrolyser, which uses electricity to reduce CO2 into smaller molecules. Compared to fossil fuels, electricity is a much more affordable and environmentally-friendly method for driving chemical processes to produce commercial chemicals and fuels. These can include ethylene, which is used in the production of plastics, and ethanol, a valuable fuel additive. "This novel electrolysis technology provides a new route to achieve higher selectivities at incredible reaction rates, which is a major step towards commercial applications," said Jiao, who also serves as associate director of CCST. Whereas direct CO2 electrolysis is the standard method for reducing carbon dioxide, Jiao's team broke the electrolysis process into two steps, reducing CO2 into carbon monoxide (CO) and then reducing the CO further into multi-carbon (C2+) products. This two-part approach, said Jiao, presents multiple advantages over the standard method. "By breaking the process into two steps, we've obtained a much higher selectivity towards multi-carbon products than in direct electrolysis," Jiao said. "The sequential reaction strategy could open up new ways to design more efficient processes for CO2 utilization." Electrolysis is also driving Jiao's research with colleague Bingjun Xu, assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering. In collaboration with researchers at Tianjin University in China, Jiao and Xu are designing a system that could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by using carbon-neutral solar electricity. "We hope this work will bring more attention to this promising technology for further research and development," Jiao said. "There are many technical challenges still be solved, but we are working on them!"

Phobos, the larger of Mars' two tiny satellites, pictured near the limb of Mars by the robot spacecraft Mars Express in 2010. The weird shapes and colors of the tiny Martian moons Phobos and Deimos have inspired a long-standing debate about their origins. The dark faces of the moons resemble the primitive asteroids of the outer solar system, suggesting the moons might be asteroids caught long ago in Mars' gravitational pull. But the shapes and angles of the moons' orbits do not fit this capture scenario. A fresh look at 20-year-old data from the Mars Global Surveyor mission lends support to the idea the moons of Mars formed after a large impact on the planet threw a lot of rock into orbit, according to a new study in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, a publication of the American Geophysical Union. The dataset held unplumbed clues to the stuff Phobos is made of, which may be more similar to the crust of the Red Planet than it appears, according to the study's authors. "The fun part for me has been taking a poke at some of the ideas out there using an old dataset that's has been underutilized," said Tim Glotch, a geoscientist at Stony Brook University in New York and the lead author of the new study. Marc Fries, a planetary scientists and curator of cosmic dust at NASA's Johnson Space Center, who was not involved in the new study, said the inability to explain the genesis of two moons around a neighboring planet is a glaring shortcoming in scientists' understanding of moon formation. Clearing it up will help with interpretations of how other moons and planets formed in our solar system and beyond. The new study does not clinch the mystery, but it is a step in the right direction, he said. "The issue of the origins of Phobos and Deimos is a fun sort of mystery, because we have two competing hypotheses that cannot both be true," Fries said. "I would not consider this to be a final solution to the mystery of the moons' origin, but it will help keep the discussion moving forward." Dark objects The debate over the origin of Mars' moons has split scientists for decades, since the early days of planetary science. In visible light, Phobos and Deimos look much darker than Mars, lending weight to the adoption hypothesis. Scientists study the mineral composition of objects by breaking the light they reflect into component colors with a spectrophotometer, creating distinctive visual "fingerprints." By comparing the spectral fingerprints of planetary surfaces to a library of spectra for known materials, they can infer the composition of these distant objects. Most of the research into the composition of asteroids has examined their spectra in visible light and in near-infrared light, which is just beyond human vision on the red side of the visible spectrum. In visible and near-infrared light, Phobos and D-class asteroids look much the same -- that is, both their spectra are nearly featureless because they are so dark. D-class asteroids are nearly black as coal because, like coal, they contain carbon. This dark aspect of Phobos led to the hypothesis that the moon is a captive asteroid that flew a little too close to Mars. But scientists looking at the orbits of Mars' moons argued they could not have been captured. These scientists believe the moons must have formed at the same time as Mars, or resulted from a massive impact on the planet during its formative millennia. "If you talk to the people who are really good at orbital dynamics and figuring out why certain bodies orbit the way they do, they say that, given the inclination and the details of Phobos' orbit, it's almost impossible that it was captured. So you have the spectroscopists saying one thing and the dynamicists saying something else," Glotch said. Heat fingerprints Glotch decided to look at the problem in a different light: the mid-infrared, which is in the same range as body temperature. He looked at the heat signature of Phobos captured in 1998 by an instrument he describes as a fancy thermometer carried on the Mars Global Surveyor. The robotic spacecraft spent most of its lifetime looking down at Mars, but took a quick look at Phobos when it passed near the moon before settling into a closer orbit around the planet. Heat energy, like visible light, can be split into a spectrum of "colors." Even objects that look black in visible light may glow in a distinctive infrared spectrum. Although Phobos is very cold, its heat spectrum has a discernable signature. Glotch and his students compared the mid-infrared spectra of Phobos glimpsed by the Mars Global Explorer to samples of a meteorite that fell to Earth near Tagish Lake, British Columbia, which some scientists have suggested is a fragment of a D-class asteroid, and other rock types. In the lab, they subjected their samples to Phobos-like conditions of cold vacuum, heating them from above and below to simulate the extreme changes in temperature from the sunny to the shady sides of airless objects in space. "We found, at these wavelength ranges, the Tagish Lake meteorite doesn't look anything like Phobos, and in fact what matches Phobos most closely, or at least one of the features in the spectrum, is ground-up basalt, which is a common volcanic rock, and it's what most of the Martian crust is made out of," Glotch said. "That leads us to believe that perhaps Phobos might be a remnant of an impact that occurred early on in Martian history." Planetary crust baked in? The new study does not argue Phobos is made entirely of material from Mars, but the new results are consistent with the moon containing a portion of the planet's crust, perhaps as an amalgamation of debris from the planet and the remnants of the impacting object. Fries, the scientist who was not involved in the new study, said the Tagish Lake meteorite is unusual, and perhaps not the best example of a D-class asteroid available for a compelling comparison with Phobos. Fries added the new study was unlikely to be able to produce a definitive answer because Phobos is subject to space weathering, which affects its reflectance spectrum and is difficult to replicate in the lab. But Fries said he found it interesting that a mix of basalt and carbon-rich material made an appropriate match for Phobos. Another possibility is that carbon-rich space dust in the vicinity of Mars has collected on the close-orbiting moons, darkening their surfaces, he said. Scientists may get their answer to Phobos' origins in the next couple of years, if the Martian Moon eXploration spacecraft and the OSIRIS-Rex and Hayabusa2 asteroid explorers complete their missions to collect samples and return them to Earth for analysis. Hyabusa2 landed two mini robots on the asteroid known as Ryugu on September 21.. "The really cool thing is that this is a testable hypothesis, because the Japanese are developing a mission called MMX that is going to go to Phobos, collect a sample and bring it back to Earth for us to analyze," Glotch said.

New research shows that ancient Mars likely had ample chemical energy to support the kinds of underground microbial colonies that exist on Earth. A new study shows evidence that ancient Mars probably had an ample supply of chemical energy for microbes to thrive underground. "We showed, based on basic physics and chemistry calculations, that the ancient Martian subsurface likely had enough dissolved hydrogen to power a global subsurface biosphere," said Jesse Tarnas, a graduate student at Brown University and lead author of a study published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters. "Conditions in this habitable zone would have been similar to places on Earth where underground life exists." Earth is home to what are known as subsurface lithotrophic microbial ecosystems -- SliMEs for short. Lacking energy from sunlight, these subterranean microbes often get their energy by peeling electrons off of molecules in their surrounding environments. Dissolved molecular hydrogen is a great electron donor and is known to fuel SLiMEs on Earth. This new study shows that radiolysis, a process through which radiation breaks water molecules into their constituent hydrogen and oxygen parts, would have created plenty of hydrogen in the ancient Martian subsurface. The researchers estimate that hydrogen concentrations in the crust around 4 billion years ago would have been in the range of concentrations that sustain plentiful microbes on Earth today. The findings don't mean that life definitely existed on ancient Mars, but they do suggest that if life did indeed get started, the Martian subsurface had the key ingredients to support it for hundreds of millions of years. The work also has implications for future Mars exploration, suggesting that areas where the ancient subsurface is exposed might be good places to look for evidence of past life. Going underground Since the discovery decades ago of ancient river channels and lake beds on Mars, scientists have been tantalized by the possibility that the Red Planet may once have hosted life. But while evidence of past water activity is unmistakable, it's not clear for how much of Martian history water actually flowed. State-of-the-art climate models for early Mars produce temperatures that rarely peak above freezing, which suggests that the planet's early wet periods may have been fleeting events. That's not the best scenario for sustaining life at the surface over the long term, and it has some scientists thinking that the subsurface might be a better bet for past Martian life. "The question then becomes: What was the nature of that subsurface life, if it existed, and where did it get its energy?" said Jack Mustard, a professor in Brown's Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences and a study coauthor. "We know that radiolysis helps to provide energy for underground microbes on Earth, so what Jesse did here was to pursue the radiolysis story on Mars." The researchers looked at data from the gamma ray spectrometer that flies aboard NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft. They mapped out abundances of the radioactive elements thorium and potassium in the Martian crust. Based on those abundances, they could infer the abundance of a third radioactive element, uranium. The decay of those three elements provides the radiation that drives the radiolytic breakdown of water. And because the elements decay at constant rates, the researchers could use the modern abundances to calculate the abundances 4 billion years ago. That gave the team an idea of the radiation flux that would have been active to drive radiolysis. The next step was to estimate how much water would have been available for that radiation to zap. Geological evidence suggests there would have been plenty of groundwater bubbling about in the porous rocks of the ancient Martian crust. The researchers used measurements of the density of the Martian crust to estimate roughly how much pore space would have been available for water to fill. Finally, the team used geothermal and climate models to determine where the sweet spot for potential life would have been. It can't be so cold that all water is frozen, but it also can't be overcooked by heat from the planet's molten core. Combining those analyses, the researchers conclude that Mars likely had a global subsurface habitable zone several kilometers in thickness. In that zone, hydrogen production via radiolysis would have generated more than enough chemical energy to support microbial life, based on what's known about such communities on Earth. And that zone would have persisted for hundreds of millions of years, the researchers conclude. The findings held up even when the researchers modeled a variety of different climate scenarios -- some on the warmer side, others on the colder side. Interestingly, Tarnas says, the amount of subsurface hydrogen available for energy actually goes up under the extremely cold climate scenarios. That's because a thicker layer of ice above the habitable zone serves as a lid that helps to keep hydrogen from escaping the subsurface. "People have a conception that a cold early Mars climate is bad for life, but what we show is that there's actually more chemical energy for life underground in a cold climate," Tarnas said. "That's something we think could change people's perception of the relationship between climate and past life on Mars." Exploration implications Tarnas and Mustard say the findings could be useful in thinking about where to send spacecraft looking for signs of past Martian life. "One of the most interesting options for exploration is looking at megabreccia blocks -- chunks of rock that were excavated from underground via meteorite impacts," Tarnas said. "Many of them would have come from the depth of this habitable zone, and now they're just sitting, often relatively unaltered, on the surface." Mustard, who has been active in the process of selecting a landing site for NASA's Mars 2020 rover, says that these kinds of breccia blocks are present in at least two of the sites NASA is considering: Northeast Syrtis Major and Midway. "The mission of the 2020 rover is to look for the signs of past life," Mustard said. "Areas where you may have remnants of this underground habitable zone -- which may have been the largest habitable zone on the planet -- seem like a good place to target."

[ATTACH=CONFIG]16601[/ATTA University of Copenhagen researchers have discovered a surprising tactic of pathogenic bacteria when being attacked by antibiotics: hibernation. Almost all pathogenic bacteria develop a small number of antibiotic-tolerant variants. This means that a significant fraction of bacteria survive courses of antibiotics. While it is no secret that pathogenic bacteria are able to develop antibiotic resistant variants, a less well-appreciated fact is that a small number of bacteria, including some of nature's nastiest pathogens, can resist antibiotics and escape antibiotic treatments without relying on variants. How's that? Researchers at the University of Copenhagen now have an answer. They have found examples of a small portion of pathogenic bacteria hiding out in a dormant, hibernation-like state, until the danger posed to them by antibiotics passes. When safe, they awaken and resume their regular functions. "We studied E. coli bacteria from urinary tract infections that had been treated with antibiotics and were supposedly under control. In time, the bacteria re-awoke and began to spread once again," explains Professor Kenn Gerdes of the University of Copenhagen's Department of Biology. The study, led by Professor Gerdes of UCPH, and Boris Macek of the University of Tübingen, has just been published in the latest edition of the journal Science Signaling. The bacterium's stop growth mechanism Antibiotics usually target a bacteria cell's ability to grow, which means that a hibernating bacterium is exempt from attack. "A bacterium in hibernation is not resistant. It is temporarily tolerant because it stops growing, which allows it to survive the effects of an antibiotic," says Professor Gerdes. Genetically, hibernating bacteria share the same characteristics as other bacteria in a given population, an E. coli population for example. So, for now, there are no clear rules as to why certain bacteria survive antibiotics by going dormant while others do not. The researchers used a new method to study what happens in the disease-causing cells that go dormant and hide in the body. Enzyme catalyzes hibernation The researchers found an enzyme in dormant bacteria that is responsible for catalyzing hibernation, which allows the bacteria to avoid being attacked. "The discovery of this enzyme is a good foundation for the future development of a substance capable of combatting dormant bacteria cells," says Professor Gerdes. The road ahead will not be easy and will require many years of hard work, expertise and research funding to develop new antibiotics. For Gerdes, it obvious that Denmark ought to play a leading role in this area of research. "The enzyme triggers a 'survival program' that almost all disease-causing bacteria deploy to survive in the wild and resist antibiotics in the body. Developing an antibiotic that targets this general programme would be a major advance," he says.

UC Davis researchers have made a breakthrough in understanding which cells afford optimal protection against Salmonella infection -- a critical step in developing a more effective and safe vaccine against a bacterium that annually kills an estimated one million people worldwide. This image shows Salmonella (in red) invading human cells. UC Davis researchers announce in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week a breakthrough in understanding which cells afford optimal protection against Salmonella infection -- a critical step in developing a more effective and safe vaccine against a bacterium that annually kills an estimated one million people worldwide. Professor Stephen McSorley, interim director of the Center for Comparative Medicine, led a collaborative group of scientists from the University of Melbourne, Australia, the University of Connecticut and UC Davis. They evaluated the difference between circulating and non-circulating memory T cells in providing immunity to Salmonella infection in mice models. "What everyone has been focused on in immunology, not just in addressing Salmonella, but all infectious diseases for the past 50 years or so, has been antibody and T cell responses," McSorley said. "What hasn't been realized until very recently is there are actually two different categories of T cells -- those that circulate through tissues in the body and those that never move and are known as tissue resident or non-circulating memory cells." Since non-circulating memory T cells were discovered, McSorley said there's been a rush in different disease models to understand whether they are important or not -- in cancer and infectious diseases. It seems in some models they are very important; in others, they are less so. "It's a new cell population we haven't looked at before and they're very effective so we need to learn more about them," McSorley said. "They may be part of the answer to developing vaccines against a variety of pathogens." The team focused on these non-circulating memory T cells to better understand how well they protected against reinfection from Salmonella Typhi, a strain that causes life-threatening enteric fever commonly in Africa and parts of Asia. Other strains of Salmonella are capable of causing gastroenetritis or invasive non-typhoidal Salmonellosis (NTS), an emerging disease in sub-Saharan Africa. Enteric fever and NTS can be fatal in 20-25 percent of infected individuals without access to medical care. The researchers transferred circulating and non-circulating memory T cells from mice previously vaccinated into naïve mice. Thanks to fluorescent markers, they were then able to track which of the T cells offered protection against Salmonella infection. They showed that vaccine-mediated protection requires a non-circulating population of liver memory cells that does not circulate through the rest of the body. The unexpected requirement for these liver memory T cells means that generating these cells will form the basis of future vaccines for typhoid and NTS. Current Salmonella vaccines limited NTS has really emerged in Africa in the last 10 years, McSorley said, mainly in young children, the elderly and HIV positive individuals -- basically people with compromised immune systems. They get a strain that would normally cause gastroenteritis, but in these individuals, it causes systemic infection and can kill them. "These forms of disease are really impactful for resource-poor communities in Asia and Africa where the vaccines are either nonexistent or terrible," McSorley said. "They are diseases of poverty." Although there are two vaccines currently available for Salmonella, neither are practical for use in these countries and they only protect about 50 percent of people immunized. "The goal of our lab is to understand the mechanisms of protective immunity in mice to learn tricks of the immune system and then develop a vaccine that could replicate that to use for kids and people who live in these areas," he said. "We found that you absolutely need these non-circulating T cells to protect against Salmonella. That's an important milestone because if you're going to make a vaccine, you have to know what you're trying to induce with that vaccine. Now that we know these forms of T cells exist and protect against Salmonella, the next goal is to try to develop synthetic ways to induce them to make a vaccine." McSorley said they have some ideas about how to do that and that's where the next phase of their research is going -- to try and take vaccine components in a mouse model to specifically focus on these non-circulating cells and see if they can induce them. "If we can learn how to better induce them and if we can apply that to a new Salmonella vaccine, it should be more efficient at providing immunity than previous vaccines." Coauthors include Joseph Benoun, Oanh Pham, Victoria Rudisill, and Zachary Fogassy from UC Davis's School of Veterinary Medicine; Newton Peres, Nancy Wang, Paul Whitney, Daniel Fernandez-Ruiz, Thomas Gebhardt, Sammy Bedoui and Richard Strugnell from University of Melbourne; and Quynh-Mai Pham and Lynn Puddington from the University of Connecticut. This study was supported by grants from the NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia.

Experts at a recent medical conference hosted by the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) and funded by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) hope their work -- reported today in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society -- will have colleagues seeing eye-to-eye on an important but under-researched area of health care: The link between impaired vision, hearing, and cognition (the medical term for our memory and thinking capabilities, which are impacted as we age by health concerns like dementia and Alzheimer's disease).(1) With vision and hearing loss already affecting up to 40 percent of older adults(1) -- and with one-in-ten older people already living with Alzheimer's disease(2) -- the conference reviewed the current state of science regarding how these common health challenges might be connected, why the answer might matter, and what can be done to reduce sensory and cognitive impairments to preserve our health for as long as possible. "As we live longer, we know that sensory and cognitive impairments will become more prevalent," said Heather Whitson, MD, MHS, Associate Professor of Medicine & Ophthalmology at Duke University Medical Center and one of the lead researchers for the AGS-NIA conference convened in 2017. "While we know a great deal about these impairments individually, we know less about how they are related -- which is surprising, since impaired hearing and vision often go hand-in-hand and are associated with an increased risk for cognitive trouble." One obstacle to optimizing sensory and cognitive health is our poor understanding of the two-way street connecting both.(1) For example, we know the brain relies on sensory input to understand our environment and make decisions.(1) Researchers also know that cognitive processes -- such as connections in the brain that allow us to locate visual targets -- guide our visual and auditory attention.(1) Yet we have a limited understanding of how these inter-related processes are affected by age-related changes in the brain, eyes, and ears. Is the connection between sensory impairment and cognitive decline linear, with one health concern leading to the other, or is it cyclical, reflecting a more complex connection? AGS-NIA conference attendees think answers to these questions are critical, which is why their conference report maps the state of sensory and cognitive impairment research while also outlining important priorities for future scholarship and clinical practice. These include answering questions tied to the mechanics, measurement, and management of impairments: * Identify the Mechanisms Responsible for Sensory and Cognitive Impairments (and Their Connections)(1) ** Is there a cause-and-effect relationship between cognition, vision, and hearing? ** What biological factors or characteristics of our nervous system affect both sensory and cognitive health? * Better Equip Clinicians and Researchers to Measure Forms of Sensory and Cognitive Impairment(1) ** What standards currently exist for measuring sensory impairment and cognitive decline? How are they used among diverse populations, particularly those who might already struggle with access to health care? ** How can we develop and validate new tools and protocols to measure cognition for people who also live with vision impairments, hearing impairments, or both? Similarly, how can we better measure hearing and vision health in older people managing cognitive health concerns? ** How can we work to ensure broad measures of cognitive and sensory impairment are included in existing research studies as a way to better adapt findings to the realities of older-adult health? * Better Prepare Older Adults and Health Professionals to Address Sensory and Cognitive Impairments(1) ** How effective, feasible, and accessible are existing options for assisting older people living with cognitive impairments, hearing impairments, and/or vision impairments? ** What innovations will be necessary to develop new resources, tools, and protocols to improve cognitive and sensory health or to accommodate those who live with these health concerns? "The evidence we have at present indicates that impaired vision, hearing, and cognition occur more often together than would be expected by chance alone," summarized Frank Lin, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Johns Hopkins Medicine and another lead researcher at the AGS-NIA conference. "Figuring out why -- and what can be done about a potential link -- represents a critical new leap for the care we all will want and need as we age." This research was supported by the NIA of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) under Award U13AG054139. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the views of the NIH.

Sometimes negative results can point researchers in the right direction. In results published in PLOS ONE on September 4, 2018, scientists at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) examined a protein called vaccinia-related kinase 1 (VRK1) that they hypothesized was important for metastasis. They found that, rather than causing cancer cells to migrate and invade, VRK1 over-expression had the opposite effect. Yet this behavior could well help cancer to establish itself in new parts of the body, according to study director and Hirschmann Endowed Professor Paula Traktman, Ph.D., in the MUSC Hollings Cancer Center. Traktman and graduate student Aye M. Mon started with the idea that high levels of VRK1 might be associated with breast cancer. Other research had suggested this, and Traktman's own work had revealed that depleting VRK1 caused cells to grow more slowly and to cause smaller tumors and fewer metastases in mice. Drawing on these results, Mon and Traktman wanted to see how cells would grow when VRK1 was over-expressed. "The logic was that, if we over-express VRK1, maybe the cells would grow faster and maybe they would be invasive and migratory and contribute to metastasis," said Traktman. To their surprise, they found that the opposite was true. When they over-expressed VRK1 in mammary epithelial cells growing in tissue culture dishes, those cells did not grow more rapidly than cells with normal levels of VRK1. And, contrary to their hypothesis, the cells tended to migrate and invade much more slowly. But, when the VRK1 over-expressors were cultured under 3D conditions that mimic tissues, they grew more rapidly and established larger colonies. Intrigued, Mon and Traktman took a closer look at the characteristics of these cells. They examined a hallmark of cancer cells known as epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, or EMT. Many cells undergo EMT on their way to becoming cancer cells. The transition enables them to migrate away from the tumor. They observed that the cells with high levels of VRK1 were more apt to form cell-to-cell connections and had lower levels of mesenchymal markers that are often present in cancer cells. Rather, the cells seemed to undergo the opposite transition, from mesenchymal to epithelial. The cells were much less likely to migrate. These negative results pointed the researchers in a new direction. If high levels of VRK1 caused cancer cells to migrate more slowly, perhaps VRK1 was necessary to enable cells to colonize a new area of the body. In such a process, cancer cells spreading throughout the body would need to abandon the characteristics that make them spread and adopt the traits of cells that would anchor them in place. It is that kind of behavior that allows metastases to begin growing in other parts of the body. To confirm their new hypothesis, Traktman and Mon teamed up with pathologist A. C. McKinnon at the Medical College of Wisconsin. McKinnon provided the team with cells from breast cancer patients who had metastases to their lymph nodes. They found much higher levels of VRK1 in the lymph node metastases than in the primary tumor cells. In addition, they examined the expression levels of VRK1 in public databases of breast cancer and found that high levels of VRK1 were associated with the most aggressive cancers. Such high levels were also associated with the worst prognoses in patients with metastatic breast cancer. Traktman summarizes the process. "For a tumor to be aggressive, some of the cells have to break off of the primary tumor and invade through the surface and into the bloodstream and then out of the bloodstream and find a new site," said Traktman. "In order to form a metastasis in a new area, the cells have to stop being wanderers and colonize." And it is possible that VRK1 over-expression enables such cancer cells to colonize new sites in the body. Traktman and Mon suspect that this finding may extend to other types of cancer, such as brain cancer and liver cancer. In fact, high levels of VRK1 are found in certain types of liver cancer. These results justify the search for small molecules that might inhibit VRK1. Also, VRK1 may one day serve as a biomarker of aggressive cancers, which could thus inform oncologists as they decide on more advanced or conservative courses of treatment. Traktman and Mon stress the importance of keeping their minds open as they conduct their research. "You can go into research with one model and be completely wrong, and it can actually turn out more interesting than you think," said Traktman. "It's a lesson for letting the data take you down the road to an interesting finding."

A newly developed drug can prevent the most common type of pancreatic cancer from growing and spreading in laboratory mice, according to a study led by Cedars-Sinai. The study, published recently in the journal Gastroenterology, also demonstrated in mice that the drug, called Metavert, may prevent patients from developing a resistance to currently used pancreatic cancer chemotherapies. "This is an exciting step toward improving survival rates in pancreatic cancer patients," said study lead author Mouad Edderkaoui, PhD, assistant professor of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute at Cedars-Sinai. "If the results are confirmed in humans, we could have a drug with the potential to significantly extend the lives of patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), which is very difficult to treat." Pancreatic cancer is the third-leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society. This year, about 55,000 people in the U.S. will be diagnosed with the disease and more than 44,000 will die, making it one of the deadliest cancers. The pancreatic cancer five-year survival rate is 7 percent. Ninety-five percent of pancreatic cancer patients are diagnosed with PDAC, which develops from cells lining small tubes in the pancreas. PDAC can be difficult to treat because the cancer cells prompt normal cells that reside in the pancreas -- called stellate cells -- to produce pancreatic scar tissue. Scar tissue makes it difficult for chemotherapy agents and blood to enter the pancreas, said study senior author Stephen J. Pandol M.D., director of Basic and Translational Pancreas Research at Cedars-Sinai. The cancer and stellate cell interaction also creates an environment that stimulates local tumor growth and cancer spread to distant sites in the body, said Pandol, a professor of Medicine at Cedars-Sinai. Additionally, the activity levels of certain enzymes rev up, fueling resistance to cancer treatments. "I've seen patients who respond to therapy for a while, and then the disease takes off because the cancer becomes smart -- it blocks chemotherapy from working," Pandol said. "Metavert targets that action." Over a four-year period, the investigators designed and synthesized new chemicals that inhibit cancer cell activity. They discovered that Metavert blocked drug resistance and also significantly boosted the positive effects of radiation and two chemotherapy agents commonly used in humans. In one of the mouse studies, Metavert increased the survival rate by about 50 percent. The investigators currently are developing a version of the drug to test in humans, Pandol said.

Persistent lung inflammation may be one possible explanation for why having asthma during childhood increases your risk for developing anxiety later in life, according to Penn State researchers. In a study with mice, researchers found that childhood exposure to allergens was linked with persistent lung inflammation. It was also connected to changes in gene expression related to stress and serotonin function. Additionally, the study -- recently published in Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience -- found that episodes of labored breathing were associated with short-term anxiety. "The idea of studying this link between asthma and anxiety is a pretty new area, and right now we don't know what the connection is," said Sonia Cavigelli, associate professor of biobehavioral health. "What we saw in the mice was that attacks of labored breathing may cause short-term anxiety, but that long-term effects may be due to lasting lung inflammation." Previous research has shown that about 10 percent of children and adolescents have asthma, which is associated with a two to three times higher chance of developing an internalizing disorder like anxiety or depression. The researchers said that finding the root cause of this connection is difficult because in addition to the biological aspects of asthma, there are many social and environmental factors that could lead to anxiety in humans. For example, air pollution or a parent's anxiety about their child's asthma could also influence the child's risk for anxiety. "With the mice, we can look at the different components of asthma, like the lung inflammation or the airway constriction," said Jasmine Caulfield, graduate student in neuroscience and lead author on the study. "A person who's having an asthma attack may have inflammation in their lungs and labored breathing at the same time, so you can't separate which is contributing to later outcomes. But in mice, we can isolate these variables and try to see what is causing these anxiety symptoms." To help tease apart these possible causes, the researchers studied four groups of mice: one with airway inflammation due to dust mite exposure; one that experienced episodes of labored breathing; one that experienced both conditions; and one that experienced neither, as a control. A total of 98 mice were used in the study. The researchers found that three months after being exposed to the allergen, mice still had lung inflammation and mucus, suggesting that even when allergy triggers are removed, there are lasting effects in the lungs long into adulthood. "We originally thought that once the allergen was removed, the lungs would clear themselves of inflammation relatively quickly," Cavigelli said. "If this translates to humans, it may suggest that if you grow up exposed to an allergen that you're reacting to, even if you get over that, you might still have these subtle, long-term changes in lung inflammation." Additionally, they found that the mice that were exposed to the allergen and developed these changes in lung function also had changes in gene expression in brain areas that help regulate stress and serotonin. "It makes sense to us because while labored breathing events may be scary and cause anxiety in the short term, it's the inflammation in the airways that persists into adulthood," Caulfield said. "So, it would make sense that long-term anxiety is linked with this long-term physical symptom." The researchers also found differences in the results between male and female mice. "In this study, the female mice had more inflammation in their lungs than the male mice three months after exposure to the allergen," Caulfield said. "In humans, girls are more likely to have persistent asthma while boys are more likely to outgrow it, so our animal model seems to map onto what we see in humans." In the future, the researchers will continue to explore different possibilities for what causes the link between asthma and anxiety. For example, Caulfield and Cavigelli are working on a study in mice that examines whether a common class of daily asthma medication -- corticosteroids -- has long-term effects on anxiety.

For individuals carrying a genetic mutation that causes Alzheimer's disease, engaging in at least 2.5 hours of physical activity per week may have beneficial effects on markers of Alzheimer's disease brain changes and may delay cognitive decline, according to a new study available online by Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association as an article in press, corrected proof. According to the authors, these results support the benefit of physical activity on cognition and dementia progression, even in individuals with autosomal dominant* Alzheimer's disease (ADAD), a rare genetically-driven form of the disease in which the development of dementia at a relatively young age is inevitable. The authors say their results, "show a significant relationship between physical activity, cognition, functional status and Alzheimer's disease pathology even in individuals with genetically-driven ADAD. ... The officially recommended physical activity duration of 150 minutes per week was associated with significantly better cognition and less Alzheimer's disease pathology in ADAD. From a public health perspective, this amount of physical activity was achieved by 70% of all ADAD individuals participating at the DIAN study. Therefore, a physically active lifestyle is achievable and may play an important role in delaying the development and progression of ADAD." "The results of this study are encouraging, and not only for individuals with rare genetically-caused Alzheimer's disease," said Maria C. Carrillo, Ph.D., Chief Science Officer for the Alzheimer's Association. "If further research confirms this relationship between physical activity and later onset of dementia symptoms in ADAD, then we need to expand the scope of this work to see if it also is true in the millions of people with more common, late onset Alzheimer's." Christoph Laske, M.D. and his research team at the University Hospital of Tübingen, Germany analyzed data generated from 275 individuals (average age 38.4) who carry a genetic mutation for ADAD and are participating in the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer's Network (DIAN), an international observational study of individuals and families with ADAD led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Researchers aimed to determine if at least 150 minutes of physical activity (walking, running, swimming, aerobics, etc.) per week -- the current recommendation by the World Health Organization and the American College of Sports Medicine -- would produce cognitive benefits for the study participants. One hundred fifty-six (156) were classified as high physical activity individuals (>150 minutes physical activity/week); 68 as low physical activity individuals (<150 minutes physical activity/week). Exercise intensity was not measured, but the type and frequency was corroborated by a source such as a family member or a friend. Researchers found individuals who engaged in more physical activity scored better on the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Clinical Dementia Rating Sum of Boxes (CDR-SOB), which are well-accepted standard measures of cognition and function. Similarly, individuals who exercised more had lower levels of Alzheimer's disease biomarkers in cerebrospinal fluid, including lower tau, a protein that builds up in the brains of people living with Alzheimer's disease. However, individual trajectories of cognitive changes have not been assessed in this cross-sectional study. "A physically active lifestyle is achievable and may play an important role in delaying the development and progression of ADAD. Individuals at genetic risk for dementia should therefore be counselled to pursue a physically active lifestyle," the study authors conclude. "There is a growing and increasingly strong body of scientific evidence of the beneficial impact of lifestyle factors in reducing the risk for, and perhaps even preventing, cognitive decline and dementia," Carrillo said. "For example, at AAIC 2018 in July we heard preliminary results of SPRINT MIND, the first randomized clinical trial to demonstrate that intensive blood pressure treatment reduces new cases of mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and the combined risk of MCI plus all-cause dementia. This adds credibility to the vision of future Alzheimer's therapy that combines drugs and modifiable risk factor interventions -- as we do now in heart disease." To more definitively generate scientific evidence on how lifestyle choices affect brain health, the Alzheimer's Association is currently leading a large two-year clinical trial called the U.S. Study to Protect Brain Health Through Lifestyle Intervention to Reduce Risk (U.S. POINTER). The study is a two-year clinical trial to evaluate whether lifestyle interventions that simultaneously target many risk factors protect cognitive function in older adults who are at increased risk for cognitive decline. U.S. POINTER is the first such study to be conducted in a large group of Americans across the United States. "Relationship between physical activity, cognition, and Alzheimer pathology in autosomal dominant Alzheimer`s disease," by Dr. Stephan Muller, et al, was supported by The Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer's Network (DIAN, U19AG032438), U.S. National Institute on Aging, German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Raul Carrea Institute for Neurological Research (FLENI), Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development, AMED, and Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI). * In an autosomal dominant form of a disease, if you get the abnormal gene from one parent, you can get the disease.

Representing a paradigm shift in thoracic surgery, the hybrid operating room combines three techniques into a single appointment eliminating multiple clinical visits for improved patient experience and outcomes. When it comes to surviving cancer, early detection and treatment could be the key to a patient's survival. Thanks to an investment by Augusta University Health, a surgeon can now diagnose and treat patients with lung cancer faster than is possible in a traditional operating room. "Before I started using the hybrid operating room, it could take up to six weeks just to get a diagnosis," said Dr. Carsten Schroeder, thoracic surgical oncologist at the Georgia Cancer Center and Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University. "Having the hybrid OR and all of its technologies at Augusta University Health allows me to tailor the patient's care plan in one day instead of having to schedule multiple follow-up appointments." Working with Philips through a unique long-term partnership model that allows for co-creating of clinical solutions, Augusta University Health opened its hybrid operating room in May 2017. It brings three techniques into a single space: navigational bronchoscopy, allowing Schroeder to locate tumors in a person's lungs; percutaneous biopsy, which gives Schroeder the ability to biopsy small section of a lesion to see if it's cancerous; and fiducial marker placement mark the tumor to make sure the entire mass is removed; and video assisted thoracoscopic surgery, allowing him to use a tiny video camera to operate inside a person's chest cavity. In the hybrid OR, all three techniques are assisted by intra-operative cone beam CT imaging, which captures images of the inside of a person's chest and allows Schroeder to see the tumor and form the best surgical strategy to biopsy or remove it safely. "The reasoning behind using the hybrid OR is to present a more efficient workup and treatment process to ultimately benefit patient survival," Schroeder said. "We can do that by shortening time from diagnosis to treatment while increasing cost-effectiveness and optimizing utilization." According to research from the American Cancer Society, one in four cancer deaths can be attributed to lung cancer. This makes it the number one cause of cancer deaths in men and women. The American Cancer Society said lung cancer kills more people each year than breast cancer, prostate cancer and colon cancer combined. One reason why the statistics are so grim, Schroeder said, is that it can be harder to detect and diagnose smaller tumors in the lungs. This means by the time they can be found and treated, they are at a more advance stage. Since moving his team into the hybrid OR 15 months ago, Schroeder has been collecting data on the outcomes of his patients. The data compiled included 25 patients. His findings, which he said show a paradigm shift in patient care, were published in Innovations: Technology and Techniques in Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery in August 2018. "Additionally, we reviewed the medical charts of 11 patients," he said. "Each of those patients underwent a same-day bronchoscopy, CT-guided biopsy and surgical resection, if indicated, in the hybrid OR." Of those 11 patients, 10 had a successful diagnosis in one setting. Six of those 11 were diagnosed with the cone beam CT-guided biopsy. Four of those six patients went on to have a surgical resection of their lung to have the nodule removed. "Not only does the hybrid OR allow us to decrease the time between diagnosis and treatment, it also allows us to detect smaller tumors in a person's lungs," Schroeder said. "Before, we would have to wait for the tumor to grow larger or increase in density."

When subjects wore the prism glasses, they touched rightward from the targets. However, after repetitive hand-reaching movements, they learned where to move from the error between the touching point and the target's point. As a result, they explicitly touched the targets. Note that they could not implicitly touch the targets at this stage. After repetitive explicit executions of correct movements, they implicitly touch the targets without thought. It is generally accepted that precise motor control in our daily life depends on acquisition of an internal model. One motor learning for an internal model is necessary for execution of precise movements in our daily life. There are two hypothetical internal models for motor learning: where to move (i.e. calculation of destination for a given motor command) or how to move (i.e. calculation of motor command for a target). There has been long-standing controversy over "which internal model is actually working in our brain?," for more than 30 years. Takeru Honda, PhD, a lead author of this study, and his coauthors thought that both internal models are necessary to execute precise movement. If we learn where to move, our brain has to update the mapping from the motor command to the destination of movement. If we learn how to move, our brain has to update the mapping from the target (destination) to the proper motor command. The subjects repeatedly made a reaching movement to touch a target on a touchscreen with the index finger. Then they wore a prism glasses to have their sights shifted rightward. During initial 10 trials after wearing the prism glasses, they were not able to touch the target precisely. Instead, they touched points shifted rightward from the target. After repetitive trials, they eventually learned to touch the target precisely. In this paradigm, the authors found learning elicited by correct touching on the targets and hidden learning elicited by error between the touch position and the target position. They also provided a theory and a simple empirical formulation. Their results show that learning where to move is necessary for explicit execution of correct movements, while learning how to move is necessary for implicit execution of correct movements. Furthermore, their theory predicts that cerebellar damages induce an impairment of "where to move" or an impairment of "how to move." Indeed, we found both types of deficits in cerebellar patients by evaluating them by clinical indexes which we developed. Therefore, the applications of this finding may help to develop clinical tests to evaluate learning capabilities of different types of cerebellar patients. The test will help to measure effects of various rehabilitations or novel therapies for cerebellar ataxia. In sports field, the present results will also help to develop effective methods of training for top athletes.

Brain MRI demonstrating multiple cerebral microbleeds (shown with arrows). New research published in Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience, reveals evidence that blood deposits in the brain may not require a blood vessel tear. A team of researchers including UCI project scientist Rachita Sumbria, PhD and UCI neurologist Mark J. Fisher, MD have provided, for the first time, evidence that blood deposits in the brain may not require a blood vessel tear. The researchers found that brain endothelial cells, the cells that line blood vessels of the brain, have the capacity for engulfing red blood cells and depositing them outside the blood vessels and into the substance of the brain, without requiring a disruption of the vasculature. "It has long been believed that a tear or rupture of a brain blood vessel is the cause of cerebral microbleeds," said Fisher, a professor of neurology at the UCI School of Medicine. "While more confirmatory work needs to be done, our study points to an entirely new direction in efforts to eliminate brain bleeding and its consequences." The study, titled, "Brain Endothelial Erythrophagocytosis and Hemoglobin Transmigration Across brain Endothelium: Implications for Pathogenesis of Cerebral Microbleeds," was published in Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience. Much of the new research, which was done in collaboration with the Keck Graduate Institute, was based in large part on previous work done by Fisher related to cerebral bleeds and how they are often an undetected cause of dementia and how they may develop after concussions. Bleeding in the brain, identified as cerebral microbleeds (CMB) on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), are tiny deposits of blood in the brain that are associated with increasing age, cerebrovascular diseases, hypertension, and chronic kidney disease. CMBs are a common cause of cognitive decline and contribute to risk of stroke. Using MRI, cerebral microbleeds are found in nearly 20 percent of people by age 60, and nearly 40 percent of people by age 80. Direct examination of human brain tissue samples shows that brain bleeding is almost universal by age 70.

Fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH) is used to detect bacteria in the spleen of a normal mouse (left) and the spleen of a mouse with a MAVS deficiency (right). Spleen cells appear in blue; bacteria are stained red. Over the last few years, scientists have discovered connections between gut microbiota imbalances and various diseases. Now, in a study using mice, biologists from the CNRS, INSERM, and Claude Bernard Lyon 1 University -- together with colleagues from the Institut Pasteur de Lille and the NIH (USA) -- have revealed a surprising relationship between a viral detection system, the composition of the gut microbiota, and the development of skin allergies. The number of microorganisms hosted in our digestive tracts is 10 to 100 times greater than that of all the cells that make up our bodies, and the delicately balanced ecosystem they constitute may be modified by our diet and medication. Epidemiological data of various kinds suggest a link between changes in gut microbiota composition and the development of allergic diseases, like eczema, at body sites far removed from the intestine. But an explanation for this association had been lacking until now. At the International Center for Infectiology Research (CNRS / INSERM / Claude Bernard Lyon 1 University / ENS de Lyon) -- or CIRI -- a team led by two researchers from the CNRS focused their attention on mice deprived of the MAVS gene, which plays a key role in the detection of viruses by the immune system. They noted an altered gut microbiota and severe allergic skin reactions in these mice. To demonstrate a relationship between the two phenomena, the researchers transferred the altered microbiota to normal mice. The latter in turn developed severe allergic reactions, showing that the transplanted gut bacteria were responsible. Furthermore, the biologists revealed that such modification of the gut microbiota led to greater intestinal permeability, which allowed certain intestinal bacteria to migrate to the spleen and lymph nodes and increased the severity of allergic skin reactions. These findings shed light on the unexpected role played by an antiviral protein (MAVS) in the maintenance of gut microbiota equilibrium. By showing that changes in the gut microbiota exacerbate the allergic response in the skin, this research sets the stage for the development of new therapies. In the not so distant future, might we treat eczema, or enhance already existing treatments, by acting on the microbiota? This approach is already being investigated for other diseases, like cancer.

Powdered protein supplements are one of the most commonly consumed nutritional supplements, whether by professional athletes or amateurs, even by those who use them for aesthetic purposes instead of sporting ones. This study, led by a researcher from the Area of Human Motility and Sporting Performance at the University of Seville, has analysed the quality of these products in function of their source, treatment and storage. "During the preparation of powdered protein supplements, the thermal treatment involved can reduce the nutritional value of the product, an aspect that, until now, has received little research attention. Lysine, an amino acid involved in this reaction, is transformed into other compounds that are not biologically usable. In addition, according to the thermal treatment received, changes can be produced in the protein structure, which means that these supplements are less digestible for the body. Therefore, it was importance to investigate this matter deeply," explains the University of Seville teacher Antonio J. Sánchez. The results indicate that half the supplements analysed contain more than 6% of blocked Lysine, but only 9% had a content of more than 20% of blocked lysine. In addition, the supplements with the highest concentrations of blocked lysine were hydrolysed and peptide serums (12%), while the lowest concentrations were registered by serum and casein isolates. The study also served to prove that the content of carbon hydrates as shown on the label could be an "indirect but useful" indication of the thermal damage done to milk serum supplements. However, the experts indicate that, a priori, the consumption of protein supplements does not offer any health problems, provided that a product has complied with quality controls, is bought in a specialised and approved establishment and is made using the correct criteria. "There are increasingly more cases in which the consumption of supplements means, unknown to the consumer, the consumption of substances that can have adverse effects on their health. Therefore, nutritional evaluation must be the first step when advising sportspeople on diet strategies or the use of supplements," the researcher adds. Nutritional evaluation must always be tailored to the individual and done by a professional who takes into account the person's detailed medical and nutritional history, evaluation of their diet, anthropometry, and analysis of their body and biochemical composition, before prescribing any supplement. Real benefit for health and for sporting performance According to the experts, the consumption of good quality protein supplements, as can be the case with an isolate of milk serum, can produce benefits for both health and sporting performance. There is scientific evidence that backs the idea that they can help to minimise the loss of muscle mass in old people or help those who practise sports in which strength is important to achieve an optimised level of muscle performance, for example. This study was part of a multidisciplinary project, in which more than 5,000 individuals of different profiles participated: international sportspeople, whole national teams, amateur sportspeople, gym users, etc. "Knowing what use is made of these supplements can help us to understand the legal and educational needs in that regard, and improve the information we give to society." This project had the collaboration of various Spanish, European and Latin-American universities

China has shut down thousands of websites and online accounts following a three-month campaign against "harmful" content, the state news agency Xinhua has announced. The content, on 4,000 sites, included infringements of copyright and material spreading "improper values, vulgarity or obscenity", it said. But the purge also appeared to be aimed at platforms offering free e-books. China tightly controls the country's internet access. Previous targets have included lottery apps and material containing pornographic or violent content. Free material BBC analyst Kerry Allen said such crackdowns were not uncommon. "There have been a number of these crackdowns before, and Chinese people come to expect that they are not websites that they will regularly access, or any that they are reliant on," she said. Referring to the platforms offering free e-books, Ms Allen added: "The media are definitely emphasising that the crackdowns are more related to people reading stuff that they should be paying for, rather than accessing subversive content." There were reports in August that Google was planning a new censored Chinese service which would block certain websites in keeping with local regulation. Google has never commented on the reports but hundreds of employees wrote to the company in protest following the coverage. "We urgently need more transparency, a seat at the table, and a commitment to clear and open processes. Google employees need to know what we're building," the letter said.

Cody Wilson has been released on bail in Houston, Texas, after being charged with the sexual assault of an under-age girl. His bail was posted at $150,000 (£114,000). Mr Wilson runs Defense Distributed, a campaign group that offers blueprints for creating 3D printed guns. He was deported back to the US from Taiwan on 22 September, having travelled there before police could speak to him. In August, a 16-year-old said she had been paid $500 (£380) to have sex with him at a hotel in Austin, Texas. The legal age of consent in the state is 17. Mr Wilson's lawyer Samy Khalil said: "We are glad that Cody is back in Texas again where we can work with him on his case. "That's our focus right now, representing our client and preparing his defence." Local TV news station Khou 11 broadcast footage of Mr Wilson leaving Harris County Jail. If found guilty, Mr Wilson faces up to 20 years in prison.

US chipmaker Qualcomm has accused Apple of sharing its technology with rival suppliers including Intel in a theft intended to improve the performance of non-Qualcomm chips. The complaint, made in a filing in a Californian court, marks the latest clash between the two firms. Apple has separately accused Qualcomm of abusing its market dominance in microchips. Its objections centre around the fees charged by Qualcomm for its technology. For years, Qualcomm supplied Apple with items such as processors for its iPhones and other hardware, but iPhone maker has favoured Intel more recently. In the new court filing, Qualcomm said Apple engineers supplied Intel staff with Qualcomm's confidential source code with the aim of improving the performance of Intel chips, despite a contract intended to restrict access to the technology. Qualcomm alleged the move was part of an "intricate plan" developed by Apple over several years, with the aim of cutting costs and increasing its leverage over Qualcomm. The breach has caused damages "including, but not limited to lost profits", while "unjustly" enriching Apple, the filing says. Qualcomm is seeking to add the claims to a lawsuit first filed last year. The initial complaint alleged that Apple violated the terms of their contract, including by resisting Qualcomm's efforts to audit its compliance. Separately, Qualcomm has also accused Apple of violating its patents. Apple declined to comment on the new filing and referred the BBC to a statement issued in June last year. Qualcomm supplies "us with a single connectivity component, but for years have been demanding a percentage of the total cost of our products - effectively taxing Apple's innovation", Apple said then. "We believe deeply in the value of intellectual property but we shouldn't have to pay them for technology breakthroughs they have nothing to do with. We've always been willing to pay a fair rate for standard technology used in our products and since they've refused to negotiate reasonable terms we're asking the courts for help," Apple added. Intel declined to comment. The complaint extends the long-running battle between the two technology giants, which has also attracted interest from regulators in the US, Europe and elsewhere. In 2016, regulators in South Korea fined Qualcomm for violating the country's competition laws. The US Federal Trade Commission, a consumer and competition watchdog, has also argued that Qualcomm's approach to licensing technology, which includes the demand for royalty payments, harms competition.

Twitter has asked its members to help shape new rules banning "dehumanising speech", in which people are compared to animals or objects. It said language that made people seem "less than human" had repercussions. The social network already has a hateful-conduct policy but has been accused of bias for allowing some types of insulting language to remain online. For example, countless tweets describing middle-aged white men as "gammon" can be found on the platform. At present, some derogatory language is deemed to be a clear violation of Twitter's existing hateful-conduct policy. It bans insults based on a person's: race ethnicity nationality sexual orientation sex gender religious beliefs age disability medical condition But Twitter's critics have used the hashtag #verifiedhate to highlight examples of what they believe to be bias in what the platform judges to be unacceptable. The "gammon" insult gained popularity after a collage of contributors to the BBC's Question Time programme - each middle-aged, white and male - was shared along with the phrase "Great Wall of Gammon" in 2017. Twitter said it intended to prohibit dehumanising language towards people "in an identifiable group" because researchers had shown it could lead to real-world violence. Asked whether calling men "gammon" would count as dehumanising speech, the company said it would first seek the views of its members. The scope of "identifiable groups" covered by the new rules will be decided after a public consultation that will run until 9 October. "This consultation is the time for people, experts and free expression groups to be involved in the development of a policy that will protect individuals and groups," said Nick Pickles, senior policy strategist for Twitter. Mr Pickles said that all views would be welcome in the consultation and that the company would be transparent about the results. He recognised that some people might tell Twitter it should not block "dehumanising speech" since it would stifle free expression. "We think it's really important to have outside input, for the health of the platform. It's about being transparent about how we develop our processes," he told the BBC. "It's a genuine commitment from the company to be more accountable to our users."

Tinder is testing a new feature in India that puts women in control of sending the first message to a match. The dating platform currently works by letting either party send a message once two people have "liked" each other by swiping right on their profile. Rival app Bumble, founded by Whitney Wolfe, who also co-founded Tinder, already has this new feature by default. The two companies are currently suing each other in separates disputes. Tinder's parent company, Match Group, has accused Bumble of copying its swipe-based model, while Bumble's countersuit claims Match fraudulently obtained trade secrets during failed acquisition talks. Tinder's new control feature, My Move, had been tested in India for several months and may roll out worldwide, reported Reuters. The company said it wanted women to feel safe and comfortable. In June, the Wall Street Journal reported that the platform in India had many more male users than female - although Tinder has never released these figures publicly. With high-profile cases of sexual violence against women in certain parts of India making headlines around the world, concerns about safety are growing. "By giving our female users the ability to exclusively send the first message if and when they want to, My Move provides women the autonomy to choose how to engage with their matches and empowers them to control their experiences," said Taru Kapoor, India's general manager for Match Group.

The owner of a YouTube channel aimed at girls was arrested in August on suspicion of child sexual abuse, US media is reporting. BuzzFeed claims to have obtained a warrant suggesting Ian Rylett was arrested during a video shoot with one of the girls on his channel. No videos appear to have been posted to the channel for the past month but they remain online. Mr Rylett has pleaded not guilty to the charges, BuzzFeed reports. It said that the trial was scheduled for later this year. Orange County, Florida, arrest files reportedly confirm that the 55-year-old British national was arrested on 17 August at 13:03 local time (18:03 BST) for "lewd and lascivious battery". In a statement, YouTube said: "We take safety on YouTube very seriously. We work closely with leading child safety organisations and others in our industry to protect young people. When we're made aware of serious allegations of this nature we take action, which may include suspending monetisation, or, upon conclusion of an investigation, terminating channels." It told BuzzFeed that the channel had been demonetised, which is likely to mean that ad revenue it generates has been shifted to other, similar channels. Mr Rylett is one of the founders of SevenAwesomeKids, which boasts 178 million subscribers over its seven channels: SevenSuperGirls SevenPerfectAngels SevenFabulousTeens SevenTwinklingTeens SevenCoolTweens SevenFuntasticGirls SevenTwinklingTweens Each features daily videos from more than 20 girls ranging in age from eight to 18. Mr Rylett, who directs the filming, pays them a monthly salary. BBC News has not been able to contact Mr Rylett for comment.

Nearly 200 years after the birth of photography, the art form is experiencing a technological revolution. Smartphones are using multiple cameras and software-based smarts to deliver images that seemingly transcend the limits of their small lenses and sensors. And while handsets have devastated sales of point-and-shoot cameras, the prospects for more advanced models are seemingly bright thanks to an innovation of their own. In recent weeks, the industry's biggest two manufacturers - Canon and Nikon - have both unveiled their first full-frame mirrorless cameras, having already seen Sony have great success with the format. Getting rid of the mirrors traditionally placed inside high-end cameras gets the lens closer to the sensor and paves the way to several innovations. And on the eve of Photokina - the industry's giant trade fair in Cologne - Panasonic has just unveiled a body that could prove the most disruptive of all. Dedicated digital camera sales grew by 5% in 2017 to $9.9bn (£7.5bn), according to market research firm Futuresource, the industry's first gain since 2010. It was driven in large part by demand from enthusiasts and professionals for existing mirrorless models costing upwards of £1,000. With a rush of new models - and their accompanying native lenses - manufacturers have an opportunity to prosper if they can convince consumers that the technology is worth the investment. In the past, using such a display involved lag - meaning the image was slightly delayed - and appreciably lower resolution than an optical viewfinder. But modern viewfinder displays have mostly addressed these issues, while also offering the benefits of being able to preview the effects that changes to camera settings make, as well as showing 100% coverage of the scene rather than the partial view shown by many DSLRs. The downside is that using an electronic display eats into battery life - reducing the number of shots possible on a charge. There are other benefits to mirrorless. Camera bodies are typically smaller and lighter than DSLRs There is scope for manufacturers to offer higher-speed burst modes, in which images are quickly taken one after another DSLR lenses can be adapted for use on mirrorless bodies - but the reverse is impractical Cameras can be operated more quietly than most DLSRs, which can be useful at weddings The viewfinder can be used in video mode Full-frame refers to the fact that the imaging sensor is about the same size as a frame of 35mm format film. For comparison's sake, the full-frame Sony A7 III's sensor is more than 18 times the size of that of the rear camera on the Galaxy S9 handset. The principal benefit of making a sensor larger is that it captures more light. This can be used to produce higher-resolution images offer better low-light capabilities deliver shallower depth-of-field pictures - where the background has a pleasing-looking blur - without having to simulate the effect via software The downsides include cost and the fact a larger sensor means a bulkier camera. So, what's the appeal of dropping thousands of pounds on a mirrorless camera and associated gear when a smartphone can capture perfectly decent snaps and auto-enhance them? There are clear advantages for professionals - sports photographers need high-quality zoom lenses, for example. Commercial photographers depend on the extra resolution required for large ad printouts. Fashion specialists rely on the cameras' superior colour science. And architectural specialists appreciate the extra dynamic range - which helps avoid details being lost in the shadows and brightest parts. "Pros will use whatever is the best tool," said Kaiman Wong, a self-declared photography nerd and YouTube reviewer. "They don't seem to care about brands, so long as it gets them the shot, and some I know have already gone mirrorless." No-compromise Instagram But for manufacturers to justify the R&D costs required to drive mirrorless cameras forward, they also need to attract a lots of hobbyists. Kim Stone is one early adopter. Two years ago, the North Devon-based resident bought a Canon EOS M3 - a mirrorless camera but one with a smaller sensor than the forthcoming EOS R. She uses it to take landscape photographs for her Instagram account despite the extra steps involved in getting them online. "It's the ability to be able to adjust the precise settings in the picture set-up," she explained. "Phones on the market don't offer you as much ease of control over the ISO [light sensitivity], white balance, shutter speed, and aperture. Smartphone lenses are also more restricted. "Ultimately, you can still only get such good results from a dedicated camera." Competing cameras Photokina offers the chance to compare the latest full-frame mirrorless models, several of which have yet to go on sale. Nikon's Z7 offers a class-leading 45.7 megapixels - useful for delivering huge prints or to tightly crop into an image after it is taken. When it comes to autofocus, Canon's EOS R may have the upper hand, thanks to its 5,655 manually selectable focus points. Both firms, however, have been criticised for providing only a single card storage slot. That prevents owners being able to create back-up copies of their photos and videos on the fly, which could be a problem if the data gets corrupted or lost. Panasonic, however, is teasing a model that promises to combine several cutting-edge features. The S1R's specs include 47MP resolution two storage slots - one for SD cards, the other XQD in-body image stabilisation that works in combination with lens stabilisation 4K video at 60 frames per second an LCD screen that can be tilted across three axes, helping owners compose portraits as well as landscapes "Panasonic's move into the full-frame mirrorless segment is particularly interesting because of its collaboration with Leica and Sigma - both companies with a strong photographic heritage," Futursource analyst Arun Gill told the BBC. "By adopting Leica's L-Mount, Panasonic's cameras will have an immediate advantage of being compatible with several existing high-quality lenses." However, the firm has yet to say how much it will cost and the product will not go on sale until "early 2019". That leaves Sony. Its A7 III has been a runaway success, managing to hit a feature-price sweet spot. Indeed, the biggest complaint has been a lack of stock. Many thought the Japanese firm might unveil a video-centric A7S III at Photokina, but the highlight of its press conference was instead the promise of automatically focusing on animals' eyes in the future, Rumour sites, however, suggest Sony is biding its time ahead of an October event. Video and stills But while there's much to be excited about with mirrorless now, the format may take some time to deliver on its true potential. One tantalising possibility is that it will eventually become possible to take photos in much quicker succession for longer periods of time, without having to sacrifice autofocus or picture quality. "If you can get 25 to 30 frames per second in full resolution, that's basically video," Mr Wong explained. "There will probably come a point when we are just taking video. "You'll take a frame out of that, and that will be the photo."

A malignant tumor is characterized by its ability to spread around its surroundings. To do so, tumor cells stick to the surrounding tissue (mainly collagen) and use forces to propel. The journal Nature Physics published today a study by a team led by Xavier Trepat, ICREA researcher at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) and lecturer at the Department of Biomedicine University of Barcelona (UB), and Jaume Casademunt, professor of Physics at the UB, reveals the forces these tumor cells use to spread. The relation between these forces and the cell movement goes beyond current physical laws, new research suggests. Researchers put breast tumor cells on a surface rich in collagen and observed how these expanded. Thanks to the technology Trepat's group developed, these allowed them measuring the physical forces that were used by these cells during the process, which has not been observed so far. With these methods, they saw the tumor spreading depends on a competition between forces: cells stick to each other and are kept together, and at the same time, they adhere to the environment in order to escape. Depending on the predominant force, the tumor will keep its spherical shape or it will totally spread around the surface. "It is a similar process to the one when we place drop of water on a surface. In some surfaces, the drop will totally spread, for example on a brick, while when put on other surfaces, the drop will remain spherical, for example on an umbrella waterproof fabric," says Carlos Pérez, IBEC researcher, intern at 'la Caixa' and first author of the article. Despite the similarities between tumors and liquids, the physics in these two phenomena is very different. "Wetting in surfaces is a core problem in classical physics we understand, but tumors seem to follow very different laws," notes Ricard Alert, UB researcher, intern at 'la Caixa' and co-author of the article. Unlike passive fluids, cells can create forces and move on their own. This turns biological tissues into active fluids, and in particular, tumors into active drops. Therefore, understanding tumor expansion on a surface requires developing a new physical theory that researchers have named "active wetting." "When we think about state of matter, we usually think about solids, liquids or gases. Our results and other laboratory results point out that living cells do not fit into this scheme and behave like another state of matter, which we call active matter," says Jaume Casademunt. When a tumor appears, cells accumulate mutations and their mechanical properties change. In general, tumor cells lose union between them and gain union with their environment. During tumor growth, the own environment changes too, increasing its amount of collagen and rigidity. "Our experiments show that these changes are enough to put the balance of forces out of order, causing cells to start spreading around," says Xavier Trepat. These findings show the importance of physical forces in metastasis, opening the window to the development of therapies to alter the mechanics of tumors as a potential treatment.