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New Study Suggests that Consuming Cranberry Juice May Lower Urinary Tract Infection Risk

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According to a recent study conducted by researchers from Bond University, University of Helsinki, and Helsinki University Hospital, increasing fluid intake can help reduce the occurrence of urinary tract infections (UTIs) compared to no treatment. However, consuming cranberry juice has shown even better clinical outcomes in terms of decreased UTIs and antibiotic usage, suggesting that it should be considered as a management option for UTIs.

Cranberry juice drinkers are 54% less likely to develop a urinary tract infection. Image courtesy of The Loves of Eirlys.

“Urinary tract infections are one of the most common bacterial infections,” stated lead author Christian Moro, PhD, along with his colleagues.

“Over 50% of women and more than 20% of men will experience UTIs at least once in their lifetime, making it the most prevalent bacterial infection in children.”

“While antibiotics have traditionally been effective for UTI treatment, the growing resistance of bacteria to these drugs poses a challenge.”

“Studies have shown that over 90% of UTIs contain drug-resistant bacteria, many of which are resistant to multiple antibiotics.”

“Given the rise in microbial resistance to antibiotics, it is essential to explore evidence-based non-drug interventions for UTI prevention and treatment.”

“Reducing antibiotic usage will not only alleviate the financial and clinical burden of prescriptions but also address the increasing issue of antibiotic resistance.”

“Encouraging patients to increase fluid intake and incorporating cranberry juice or tablets have been proposed as beneficial strategies.”

“However, the existing literature on this topic is extensive, with conflicting findings regarding the effectiveness of cranberries.”

The authors utilized a novel research approach known as network meta-analysis, enabling simultaneous comparisons of multiple interventions across various studies.

A total of 20 trials involving 3,091 individuals were analyzed, with 18 of these studies revealing that cranberry juice consumption was linked to a 54% lower UTI incidence compared to no treatment and a 27% lower incidence than placebo liquids.

“These results have the potential to reduce the reliance on antibiotics for UTI treatment,” commented Dr. Moro.

“More than half of women will experience a UTI, often resulting in antibiotic prescriptions.”

“Given the escalating antibiotic resistance, identifying effective non-pharmaceutical interventions is critical.”

“Cranberry juice presents a straightforward and effective intervention that should be considered in managing UTIs.”

Furthermore, the study found that cranberry juice led to a 59% reduction in antibiotic requirements and significantly alleviated symptoms in individuals with active UTIs.

“Simple measures like increasing water intake or taking cranberry tablets also showed benefits, albeit not as pronounced as consuming cranberries in liquid form such as juice,” the researchers noted.

Read their paper published in the journal European Urology Focus.

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Christian Moro others Cranberry juice, cranberry tablets, or liquid therapy for urinary tract infections: a systematic review and network meta-analysis. Yurol Focus Published online on July 18, 2024; doi: 10.1016/j.euf.2024.07.002

This article is based on a press release provided by Bond University.

Source: www.sci.news

Research suggests that biological amino acids could potentially endure in the near-surface ice of Europa and Enceladus

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Europa and Enceladus are important targets for the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life in the solar system. However, the surfaces and shallow subsurfaces of these airless icy moons are constantly exposed to ionizing radiation that can degrade chemical biosignatures. Therefore, sampling the icy surfaces in future life-searching missions to Europa and Enceladus requires a clear understanding of the required ice depths where intact organic biomolecules may exist. A team of scientists from NASA and Pennsylvania State University conducted experiments exposing individual biological and abiotic amino acids in the ice to gamma radiation to simulate conditions on these icy worlds.

Europa's surface stands out in this newly reprocessed color image. The image scale is 1.6 km per pixel. Europa's north side is on the right. Image courtesy of NASA / JPL-Caltech / SETI Institute.

“Based on our experiments, a 'safe' sampling depth for amino acids on Europa is about 20 centimetres (8 inches) at high latitudes in the trailing hemisphere (the hemisphere opposite the direction Europa moves around Jupiter), in an area where the surface has not been significantly disturbed by meteorite impacts,” said Dr. Alexander Pavlov, a research scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

“Detecting amino acids on Enceladus does not require subsurface sampling; these molecules survive radiolysis (breakdown by radiation) anywhere on Enceladus' surface, within a few millimeters (tenths of an inch) of the surface.”

Dr. Pavlov and his colleagues used amino acids in their radiolysis experiments as representative examples of biomolecules on icy moons.

Amino acids are produced by both living organisms and non-living processes.

But if certain types of amino acids were found on Europa or Enceladus, they could be a sign of life, as they may be used by life on Earth as building blocks of proteins.

Proteins are essential for life because they are used to create structures and to produce enzymes that speed up or control chemical reactions.

Amino acids and other compounds found underground in the ocean could be transported to the surface by geyser activity or the slow churning motion of the ice shell.

To assess the survival of amino acids on these planets, the researchers mixed amino acid samples with ice cooled to minus 196 degrees Celsius (minus 321 degrees Fahrenheit) in sealed, airless vials and exposed them to various doses of gamma rays (a type of high-energy light).

Because the ocean may harbor microorganisms, the researchers also tested the viability of amino acids contained in dead bacteria in the ice.

Finally, the researchers tested samples of amino acids in the ice mixed with silicate dust to see if meteorites or interior materials could be mixing with the surface ice.

This experiment provided vital data for determining the rate at which amino acids break down (called the radiolysis constant).

Using these, the scientists used the age and radiation environment of the icy surfaces of Europa and Enceladus to calculate drilling depths and where 10% of amino acids would survive radiolysis.

While experiments have been done before to test for the survival of amino acids in ice, this is the first to use low doses of radiation that don't completely break down the amino acids – changing or breaking them down would be insufficient to determine whether they were a sign of life.

This is also the first experiment to use Europa/Enceladus conditions to assess the survival of these compounds in microbes, and the first to test the survival of amino acids mixed with dust.

Scientists have found that amino acids break down faster when mixed with dust, but more slowly when they come from microorganisms.

“The slow rate of breakdown of amino acids in biological samples under surface conditions like those on Europa and Enceladus strengthens the case for future life detection measurements from lander missions to Europa and Enceladus,” Dr Pavlov said.

“Our results indicate that the decomposition rates of potential organic biomolecules are higher in the silica-rich regions of both Europa and Enceladus than in pure ice. Future missions to Europa and Enceladus should therefore be careful when sampling the silica-rich regions of these icy moons.”

“A possible explanation for why amino acids survive longer in bacteria is the way that ionizing radiation alters molecules, either directly by breaking chemical bonds or indirectly by creating nearby reactive compounds that alter or break down the target molecule.”

“It's possible that the bacterial cellular material protected the amino acids from reactive compounds produced by the radiation.”

Team paper Published in the journal Astrobiology.

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Alexander A. Pavlov others2024. Effects of radiolysis on biological and abiotic amino acids in shallow subsurface ice on Europa and Enceladus. Astrobiology 24(7); doi: 10.1089/ast.2023.0120

This article has been edited based on the original NASA release.

Source: www.sci.news

New understanding suggests LUCA, the last common ancestor of all life, emerged earlier than previously believed

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Illustration showing LUCA possibly being attacked by a virus

Scientific Graphic Design

The organisms that gave rise to all life on Earth evolved much earlier than previously thought – just a few hundred million years after Earth formed – and may have been more sophisticated than previous assessments had suggested.

The DNA of all living organisms today is E. coli There are many similarities in the evolution leading up to the blue whale, suggesting that we can trace our origins back to a universal common ancestor, LUCA, billions of years ago. While many efforts have been made to understand LUCA, studies taking a broader approach have revealed surprising results.

“What we're trying to do is bring together representatives from different disciplines to develop a comprehensive understanding of when LUCA existed and what its biological characteristics were,” he said. Philip Donahue At the University of Bristol, UK.

Genes that are currently present in all major lineages of life may have been passed down uninterrupted from LUCA, which could help us understand what genes our ancient ancestors had. By studying how these genes changed over time, we should be able to estimate when LUCA lived.

In reality, this is a lot more complicated than it sounds, as genes are lost, gained, and swapped between branches. Donohue says the team created a complex model that took this into account, to work out which genes were present in LUCA. “We've found a much more sophisticated organism than many have previously claimed,” he says.

The researchers estimate that 2,600 protein-coding genes come from LUCA, up from previous estimates of as few as 80. The team also concludes that LUCA lived around 4.2 billion years ago, much older than other estimates and surprisingly close to the formation of Earth 4.5 billion years ago. “This suggests that the evolution of life may have been simpler than previously claimed, because evolution happened so quickly,” Donohue says.

The earlier date is largely due to the team's improved methodology, but also because, unlike others, they don't assume that LUCA could have existed only after the Late Heavy Bombardment, when Earth was hit so hard by space debris that any new life that emerged could have been wiped out. Based on rocks returned from the Moon, the period has been put at 3.8 billion years ago, but there's a lot of uncertainty around that number, Donohue says.

Their reconstruction suggests that LUCA had genes that protected it from ultraviolet damage, which leads them to believe that it likely lived on the ocean's surface. Other genes suggest that LUCA fed on hydrogen, which is consistent with previous findings. The team speculates that LUCA may have been part of an ecosystem with other types of primitive cells that are now extinct. “I think it's extremely naive to think that LUCA existed on its own,” Donohue says.

“I think this is compelling from an evolutionary perspective.” Greg Fournier “LUCA is not the beginning of the story of life, but merely the state of the last common ancestor that we can trace back to using genomic data,” say researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The results also suggest that LUCA had a primitive version of the bacterial defense system known as CRISPR to fight viruses. “Even 4.2 billion years ago, our earliest ancestors were fighting viruses,” the team members say. Edmund Moodyalso at the University of Bristol.

Peering into the distant past is fraught with uncertainty, and Donohue is the first to admit that his team may have missed the mark. “We've almost certainly got it all wrong,” he says. “What we're trying to do is push the envelope and create the first attempt to synthesize all of the relevant evidence.”

“This won't be the last word,” he said, “and it won't be our last word on this subject, but we think it's a good start.”

Patrick Forter Researchers at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, France, who coined the term LUCA, also believe that the organism did not live in isolation. “But the claim that LUCA lived before the Late Heavy Bombardment 3.9 billion years ago seems to me completely unrealistic,” says Forterre. “I'm convinced that their strategy for determining the age and gene content of LUCA has several flaws.”

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Source: www.newscientist.com

New study suggests Ancient Mars was cold and had moderate levels of water

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In a new study, planetary scientists have found strong similarities between the soil of Gale Crater on Mars and that of the cold, sub-Arctic climate of Newfoundland, Canada.

X-ray amorphous material comprises 15-73% by weight of the sedimentary rocks and eolian deposits in Gale Crater. This material is siliceous and high in iron and low in aluminum. The presence of volatiles is consistent with the presence of early weathering products. To better understand the impact of this material on past water conditions on Mars, Feldman and others used bulk and selective dissolution techniques, X-ray diffraction, and transmission electron microscopy to investigate the formation and lifetime of X-ray amorphous material in terrestrial iron-rich soils of different ages and environmental conditions. Image courtesy of M. Kornmesser / ESO.

Scientists often use soil to portray environmental history, as the minerals it contains can tell the story of a landscape's evolution over time.

Understanding more about how these materials formed could help answer long-standing questions about the Red Planet's historical conditions.

The soil and rocks in Gale Crater are a record of a climate that existed 3 to 4 billion years ago, when Mars was relatively water-rich, coinciding with the time when life first emerged on Earth.

“Gale Crater is an ancient lake bed and clearly water was present, but what were the environmental conditions like when the water was there?” said Dr Anthony Feldman, a soil scientist and geomorphologist at the Desert Institute.

“We'll never find a direct analogue on the Martian surface because conditions on Mars and Earth are so different, but we can look at trends under Earth conditions and apply them to problems on Mars.”

NASA's Curiosity rover has been exploring Gale Crater since 2011 and has found large amounts of soil material known as X-ray amorphous material.

These components of soil lack the typical repeating atomic structure that characterizes minerals and therefore cannot be easily characterized using traditional techniques such as X-ray diffraction.

For example, when a crystalline material like diamond is hit with X-rays, the rays scatter at characteristic angles based on the mineral's internal structure.

However, X-ray amorphous materials do not produce these characteristic fingerprints.

This X-ray diffraction method was used by the Curiosity rover to demonstrate that soil and rock samples tested in Gale Crater consisted of 15-73% X-ray amorphous material.

“Think of X-ray amorphous material as being like jelly, which is a soup of different elements and chemicals that slide around one another,” Dr. Feldman said.

Curiosity also conducted chemical analysis of soil and rock samples and found that the amorphous material was rich in iron and silica and deficient in aluminum.

Beyond limited chemical information, scientists don't yet understand what this amorphous material is or what its presence means about Mars' historical environment.

Uncovering more information about how these enigmatic materials formed and persist on Earth could help answer long-standing questions about the Red Planet.

Dr. Feldman and his colleagues visited three locations in their search for similar X-ray amorphous material: the Tablelands of Gros Morne National Park in Newfoundland, the Klamath Mountains in Northern California, and western Nevada.

All three sites contain serpentinite soils that the researchers predicted would be chemically similar to the X-ray amorphous material in Gale Crater, meaning it would be rich in iron and silicon but poor in aluminum.

The three locations also recorded ranges of rainfall, snowfall and temperatures, which could help provide insight into the types of environmental conditions that produce amorphous material and promote its preservation.

At each site, the team examined the soil using X-ray diffraction analysis and transmission electron microscopy, allowing them to see the soil material at a more detailed level.

The subarctic climate of Newfoundland produced materials chemically similar to those found at Gale Crater, but lacked the crystalline structure, whereas soils produced in warmer climates such as California and Nevada did not produce the crystalline structure.

“This tells us that you need water there to form these materials,” Dr. Feldman said.

“But to preserve the amorphous material in the soil, the average annual temperature needs to be cold, close to freezing.”

Amorphous materials are often considered to be relatively unstable, meaning that at the atomic level, the atoms have not yet organized into a final crystalline form.

“Something is happening in the rates, or kinetics, of the reactions that slows them down so that these materials are preserved over geological timescales,” Dr Feldman said.

“What we're suggesting is that very cold conditions, close to freezing, are the specific kinetic limiting factors that allow these materials to form and be preserved.”

“This research improves our understanding of the Martian climate.”

“The results suggest that the abundance of this material in Gale Crater is consistent with subarctic conditions similar to those found in Iceland, for example.”

Team work Published in a journal Communication Earth and the Environment.

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A.D. Feldman othersIn 2024, iron-rich X-ray amorphous material will record Mars' past climate and the persistence of water. Community Global Environment 5, 364; doi: 10.1038/s43247-024-01495-4

This article is based on a press release from the Desert Research Institute.

Source: www.sci.news

New study suggests Jupiter’s Great Red Spot may not be the permanent feature reported by Cassini

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Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is perhaps the best-known atmospheric feature and a popular icon among the solar system’s objects. Its large oval shape, contrasting red color, and long lifespan make it easily visible with a small telescope. A new study led by scientists from the University of the Basque Country, based on historical measurements of its size and motion, shows that the present-day Great Red Spot was probably first reported in 1831 and is not a permanent spot observed by Giovanni Domenico Cassini and others between 1665 and 1713.

The Permanent Spot (PS) and the early Great Red Spot (GRS): (a) drawing of the PS by GD Cassini on 19 January 1672, (b) drawing by S. Swave on 10 May 1851, showing the GRS area as a clear ellipse bounded by a depression (depicted by a dashed red line). (c) photograph taken by AA Common on 3 September 1879 using a 91 cm reflecting telescope at Ealing (London). The GRS appears as a clear "dark" ellipse because it is red and the photographic plate is sensitive to violet-blue wavelengths. (d) photograph taken at Lick Observatory on 14 October 1890 using a yellow filter. All figures show astronomical images of Jupiter (south at top, east at left) to preserve the notes on the drawings. Image courtesy of Sánchez-Lavega others., doi: 10.1029/2024GL108993.

Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is the largest and longest-lasting known vortex of any planet in the solar system.

The formation mechanism that produced this feature is unknown, and its longevity is controversial.

It was also unclear whether the Great Red Spot was the dark oval nicknamed the “Eternal Spot” that astronomer Giovanni Domenico Cassini and others reported between 1665 and 1713.

“Speculation about the origin of the Great Red Spot dates back to the first telescopic observations by Giovanni Domenico Cassini, who in 1665 discovered a dark oval at the same latitude as the Great Red Spot, which he named a permanent spot, because it was observed by Cassini and other astronomers until 1713,” said Professor Agustin Sánchez Lavega from the University of the Basque Country.

“For the next 118 years, traces of it were lost, and it was only after 1831 that S. Schwabe again observed a clear, almost elliptical structure at the same latitude as the GRS. This can be considered the first observation of the present-day GRS, possibly of the infant GRS.”

“Since then, the Great Red Spot has been regularly observed by telescopes and by various space probes that have visited the planet up to the present day.”

In their study, the authors analysed the change in the size of the Great Red Spot over time, its structure, and the behaviour of two meteorological structures, the former permanent spot and the Great Red Spot.

To do so, they used historical sources dating back to the mid-17th century, shortly after the telescope was invented.

“Based on our measurements of its size and motion, we infer that it is highly unlikely that the current Great Red Spot is the permanent spot observed by Cassini,” Professor Sanchez LaVega said.

“The permanent spot probably disappeared sometime between the mid-18th and 19th centuries, which would put the lifespan of the red spot at least 190 years.”

“The Red Spot, which in 1879 measured 39,000 kilometres along its longest axis, has now shrunk to about 14,000 kilometres and is becoming rounder at the same time.”

“Furthermore, since the 1970s, several space missions have studied this weather phenomenon in detail.”

“Recently, various instruments on the Juno spacecraft in orbit around Jupiter have shown that the Great Red Spot is shallow and thin compared to its horizontal length. Its vertical length is about 500 km.”

To understand how this giant whirlpool formed, the astronomers ran numerical simulations using two complementary models of the behavior of thin vortices in Jupiter’s atmosphere.

Powerful winds prevail on this giant planet, flowing along parallels that alternate in direction and latitude.

To the north of the Great Red Spot, winds blow westward at 180 km/h, while to the south, winds blow in the opposite direction, eastward at 150 km/h.

This creates huge north-south shear in the wind speed, which is the fundamental element that allows vortices to grow internally.

The study explored a variety of mechanisms to explain the formation of the Great Red Spot, including the eruption of a giant superstorm like those rarely observed around its twin planet Saturn, or the merging of several smaller vortices caused by sheared winds.

The results show that although anticyclones form in both cases, their shapes and dynamic characteristics are different from those of the present-day Great Red Spot.

“We believe that if one of these anomalies had occurred, it, or its effects in the atmosphere, would have been observed and reported by astronomers at the time,” Prof Sanchez Lavega said.

In a third set of numerical experiments, the researchers investigated how the GRS may arise from known instabilities in the winds that they believe could produce elongated cells that surround and trap the GRS.

Such cells were early red spots, the proto-Great Red Spot, whose subsequent shrinkage would give rise to the compact, rapidly rotating Great Red Spot observed in the late 19th century.

The formation of large elongated cells has already been observed during the emergence of other major vortices on Jupiter.

“In our simulations, thanks to supercomputers, we were able to find that elongated cells are stable when they rotate around the Great Red Spot at the speed of Jupiter’s winds, which is what you would expect to form due to this instability,” said Dr Enrique García Melendo, an astronomer at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia.

Using two different numerical models, the scientists concluded that if the GRS rotated slower than the surrounding winds, it would break up and the formation of a stable vortex would be impossible.

And if it were very high, the properties of the primordial Great Red Spot would be different from those of the current Great Red Spot.

“Future studies will aim to reconstruct the Great Red Spot’s shrinkage over time and elucidate in more detail the physical mechanisms underlying its persistence,” the authors wrote.

“At the same time, we try to predict whether the Great Red Spot will collapse and disappear when it reaches its size limit, as happened with Cassini’s permanent spot, or whether it will remain stable at its size limit and persist for many years.”

of result Published in a journal Geophysical Research Letters.

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Agustin Sanchez Lavega others2024. Origin of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot. Geophysical Research Letters 51(12):e2024GL108993; doi:10.1029/2024GL108993

Source: www.sci.news

Study suggests women experience enhanced cognitive abilities during menstruation

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A recent study suggests that women may have improved cognitive performance during their menstrual cycle. The research conducted by University College London (UCL) and the Institute of Sport, Exercise and Health (ISEH) sheds light on this phenomenon.

Published in the peer-reviewed journal Neuropsychology, this study is the first to analyze sports-related cognition throughout the menstrual cycle phases.

241 participants took cognitive tests simulating mental processes common in team sports, such as recognizing emotions, attention, reaction time, and spatial awareness.

Participants also tracked their menstrual cycle using an app to identify their phase during testing. Surprisingly, participants performed better in reaction time and made fewer errors during menstruation, contrary to their expectations.

For example, their timing accuracy in a ball collision task was 10 milliseconds better during menstruation. Similarly, their error rates were 25% lower in an inhibition task involving smiles and winks.

Lead researcher Dr. Flaminia Ronca from UCL Department of Surgery and ISEH noted the unexpected performance enhancement during menstruation.

During the luteal phase, reaction times slightly decreased, but error rates remained stable. These findings emphasize the importance of understanding how menstrual cycle phases impact cognitive abilities in sports performance.

Co-author Dr. Megan Lawley highlights the need for more research in this area to improve performance discussions between coaches and athletes.

About the Experts

Flaminia Ronca, an Associate Professor at UCL, focuses on the body-brain interaction through movement in her research. She is also a leader at UCL’s Movement Neuroscience Research Group (ENRG).

Megan Lawley, a Senior Sports Scientist, specializes in female athlete health and performance factors. Her previous research at UK Sport and Bangor University delved into the complexities of athletes’ success in high-performance environments.

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Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Study suggests that high consumption of fruit may lower risk of depression

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A new study led by scientists at the University of New South Wales confirms that eating fruit can help ward off depression – but eating vegetables does not.

High fruit intake is associated with a reduced risk of developing depression.

Depression is a major public health concern: the global impact of depressive disorders is estimated to be over 50 million years of life lived with disability, making depression the largest contributor to non-fatal disease burden.

More than 80% of this burden is borne by low- and middle-income countries.

Compared with depression in younger adults, depression in older adults has a greater impact on physical and cognitive abilities and is associated with reduced quality of life and increased all-cause mortality.

A growing body of evidence suggests that diet, particularly increasing fruit and vegetable intake, may be important in reducing the risk of depression.

“The aim of this new study was to examine the relationship between fruit and vegetable consumption and depression in adults aged 45 and over,” said researcher Dr Annabel Mattison, from the University of New South Wales.

The study involved 7,801 non-depressed, community-dwelling adults from multiple sites across six continents, including the United States, Sweden, Brazil, Nigeria, Malaysia and Australia.

The results showed a beneficial association between higher fruit intake and a lower risk of depression over a nine-year period.

“This intriguing finding of a protective relationship between fruit consumption and risk of depression points to the need for greater emphasis on diet in healthcare,” said Dr Mattison.

The results suggested a benefit to vegetable consumption, but the benefit was not statistically significant.

“The reason we found a beneficial association with fruit consumption but not with vegetable consumption may be because fruits are typically consumed raw, whereas vegetables are typically consumed cooked, which may affect their nutritional value,” Dr Mattison said.

“Fruit and vegetable intake was self-reported via a comprehensive food frequency questionnaire, a short food questionnaire, or a dietary history.”

“Depressive symptoms were assessed using validated scales, and depression was defined by applying validated cut-offs.”

“We used Cox regression to examine the association between baseline fruit and vegetable intake and incident depression over 3- to 9-year follow-up periods.”

It has been suggested that the high antioxidant, dietary fiber, and vitamin content of fruits and vegetables may have beneficial effects on depression through a variety of mechanisms, including their role in inflammation, oxidative stress, and gut microbiota.

Because fruits and vegetables contain different nutrients, it is also possible that different types of fruits and vegetables may have different effects on depression risk.

The evidence that citrus fruits and green leafy vegetables reduce the risk of depression is particularly strong.

“Future studies that take into account consumption of different types of fruit and vegetables using standardized measures and focus on a larger number of older people, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, are definitely needed,” Professor Henry Brodaty, from the University of New South Wales, said.

“The expanding research currently being conducted into genes associated with dietary intake provides a promising avenue for influencing fruit and vegetable intake.”

“To better understand the association, the types of fruits and vegetables consumed also need to be taken into account, and studies need to be designed to be more comparable across cohorts.”

of study Published in Journal of Affective Disorders.

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Annabelle P. Mathison others2024. Associations between fruit and vegetable intake and incident depression in middle-aged and older adults in 10 diverse international longitudinal cohorts. Journal of Affective Disorders 359: 373-381; doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2024.05.096

Source: www.sci.news

Study suggests ellagic acid as a promising dietary option for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

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Ellagic acid is a polyphenolic, non-flavonoid compound found naturally in a variety of fruits, including pomegranates, raspberries, strawberries, and grapes, as well as nuts, including pistachios, pecans, walnuts, and acorns.

Senavirasna othersResearchers are investigating the effects of ellagic acid, an antioxidant found in pomegranates, raspberries, strawberries, grapes and nuts, in preventing and potentially reversing the damage caused by fatty liver disease. Image courtesy of Engin Akyurt.

Obesity is epidemic in many parts of the world and contributes to increasing rates of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

This rapidly expanding epidemic is the most common chronic liver disease worldwide.

The prevalence of NAFLD increased from 25.24% in 2015 to 29.38% in 2021.

NAFLD represents a range of pathologies from simple fatty liver (nonalcoholic fatty liver, NAFL) to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), which can progress to more severe conditions including fibrosis.

Currently, no cure exists for the long-term management of NAFLD/NASH, but dietary interventions containing several polyphenolic compounds have been investigated for the treatment of NASH. Ellagic acid is one such compound.

“Ellagic acid, found in a variety of foods including raspberries, pomegranates, blackberries and pecans, is widely known for its antioxidant properties but has also demonstrated anti-inflammatory, anti-fibrotic and anti-cancer properties,” said researcher Lois Balmer and doctoral student Tarani Senaviratna, both from Edith Cowan University.

“Ellagic acid stands out as a remarkable polyphenolic compound with a wide range of pharmacological properties that may be promising for the treatment of various chronic diseases, including NAFLD.”

“Edible plants containing ellagic acid and its derivatives are recognized as valuable functional foods that promote human health due to their pleiotropic biological effects.”

“Furthermore, evidence suggests that ellagic acid may exert synergistic therapeutic effects when combined with other antioxidant dietary supplements, making it a potential candidate for combination therapy.”

The authors were involved in a previous pilot study investigating the effects of several polyphenolic compounds on NAFLD, with ellagic acid showing the most promise in reducing inflammation.

“Ellagic acid exerts its hepatoprotective properties mainly through scavenging free radicals, modulating cytokine production, and regulating lipid metabolism,” the researchers said.

“Ellagic acid, a potent antioxidant, combats reactive oxygen species (ROS) and activates the NrF2 pathway to reduce oxidative stress and protect the liver.”

“Surprisingly, ellagic acid also inhibits the Nf-kB and MAPK pathways, reducing inflammation during NAFLD/NASH.”

“Evidence also shows that ellagic acid can lower both triglyceride and cholesterol levels and combat de novo lipogenesis, a significant risk factor in the progression of NASH.”

“Test-tube findings suggest that ellagic acid has the ability to reduce fibrosis.”

“Urolithins, the main microbial metabolites of ellagic acid, have been shown to improve the gut microbiota in several mouse models of obesity.”

“Specifically, Urolithin A has been shown to lower LDL and increase HDL levels and is also involved in improving lipid metabolism through gene regulation, while Urolithin C activates the hepatic AMPK pathway, countering the pathophysiology of NAFLD.”

“While the health benefits of ellagic acid and urolithins in NAFLD/NASH are being debated, their biological effects on the liver are still poorly understood.”

“Given that lipid metabolism, oxidative stress, inflammation, and insulin resistance play a role in the development of NASH, the results of this review suggest that ellagic acid may be a potential dietary intervention for NASH, potentially suppressing and even reversing the pathological symptoms of NAFLD/NASH.”

of study Published in the journal Antioxidants.

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Tarani Senavilasna others2024. Elucidation of the therapeutic effects of ellagic acid on nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. Antioxidants 13(4):485; doi:10.3390/antiox13040485

Source: www.sci.news

Research suggests smartphone app could aid in early diagnosis of dementia in younger adults

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New data suggests that a smartphone app could aid in detecting the main cause of early-onset dementia in individuals at a high risk of developing it.

Researchers have discovered that cognitive tests conducted through smartphone apps can identify early signs of frontotemporal dementia in those genetically predisposed to the condition, showing comparable sensitivity to traditional medical evaluations.

Frontotemporal dementia is a neurological disorder that typically emerges in middle age, impacting a person’s ability to plan, prioritize, filter distractions, and control impulses as certain brain regions responsible for these functions diminish over time.


Approximately one-third of individuals affected by this disease have a genetic component, underscoring the urgency of early diagnosis and monitoring response to treatments most effective in the disease’s initial stages.

Lead author Adam from the University of California, San Francisco, noted, “Most frontotemporal dementia patients receive a belated diagnosis due to their young age and symptoms being mistaken for mental health issues.”

The use of smartphones as diagnostic tools for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s diseases has been gaining popularity. Researchers collaborated with a software company to develop an app for assessing cognitive function, gait, balance, movement, and language skills in individuals at high genetic risk for frontotemporal dementia, even before symptoms manifest.

The study published in JAMA Network Open demonstrated the app’s ability to accurately detect dementia and potentially outperform traditional neuropsychological assessments in the early stages of the disease.


While there are no immediate plans for public availability, the app could significantly advance research efforts in understanding and treating frontotemporal dementia.

Over 30 clinical trials are underway or in the pipeline, exploring treatments that may slow disease progression in specific gene carriers. The app could address the challenge of collecting sensitive outcome measures easily, benefitting patients, caregivers, and clinicians.

Stafaroni added, “We believe smartphone-based assessments could facilitate innovative trials for potential treatments, reducing the need for frequent in-person evaluations.”

Ultimately, the app may serve as a tool to monitor treatment efficacy and potentially replace most in-person visits to clinical trial sites.

Source: www.theguardian.com

New Study Suggests That Venus’ Clouds Could Potentially Support Life

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Planetary scientists have long speculated that Venus' potential habitability lies not in its hot surface but in a cloud layer at an altitude of 48 to 60 kilometers, where temperatures match those of Earth's surface. However, it is commonly believed that Venusian clouds cannot support life because their chemical composition is concentrated sulfuric acid, a highly aggressive solvent. In the new study, chemists studied 20 biogenic amino acids across a range of sulfuric acid concentrations and temperatures in the Venus cloud. After four weeks, the researchers found that 19 of the biogenic amino acids tested were either unreactive or chemically modified only in their side chains. Their main discovery is that the amino acid backbone remains intact in concentrated sulfuric acid.

This composite image taken by JAXA's Akatsuki spacecraft shows Venus. Image credit: JAXA / ISAS / DARTS / Damia Bouic.

“What is quite surprising is that concentrated sulfuric acid is not a universally hostile solvent for organic chemistry,” said MIT researcher Dr. Janusz Petkowski.

“We found that the building blocks of life on Earth are stable in sulfuric acid, which is very interesting as we consider the possibility of life on Venus,” said Sarah Seager of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. the professor added.

“That doesn't mean life there will be the same as it is here. In fact, we know it's unlikely. But this study suggests that Venus' clouds support the complex chemicals necessary for life. We advance the idea that there is a possibility that

The search for life in Venus' clouds has gained momentum in recent years, spurred by the detection of the controversial molecule phosphine, a molecule thought to be a signature of life, in the planet's atmosphere. There is.

Although the discovery remains debated, the news reignited old questions about whether life could actually exist on Earth's sister planet.

In search of answers, scientists are planning several missions to Venus. That includes the first largely privately-funded mission to Venus, backed by California-based launch company Rocket Lab.

The mission, for which Professor Seeger is the principal scientist, aims to send a spacecraft into the planet's clouds and analyze their chemistry for signs of organic molecules.

Ahead of the mission's launch in January 2025, Professor Seager and his colleagues will test various materials in concentrated sulfuric acid to find out whether debris from life on Earth might be stable in Venus' clouds. I've been testing molecules. The most acidic place on earth.

“People have a perception that concentrated sulfuric acid is a very aggressive solvent that will tear everything apart, but we are finding that this is not necessarily true,” Dr. Petkowski said.

In fact, the authors have previously shown that complex organic molecules, such as some fatty acids and nucleic acids, are surprisingly stable in sulfuric acid.

They are careful to emphasize, as they do in the current paper, that complex organic chemistry is of course not life, but without organic chemistry there is no life.

In other words, if certain molecules can survive in sulfuric acid, Venus' highly acidic clouds are probably habitable, if not necessarily habitable.

In the new study, researchers focused on 20 biogenic amino acids, amino acids that are essential for all life on Earth.

They dissolved each type of amino acid in a vial of sulfuric acid mixed with water at concentrations of 81% and 98%, representing the range found in Venus' clouds.

They then used a nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer to analyze the structure of the amino acids in sulfuric acid.

After analyzing each vial several times over a four-week period, they found that the basic molecular structure, or “skeleton,” of 19 of the 20 amino acids was stable and unaltered, even under highly acidic conditions.

“Just because this skeleton was shown to be stable in sulfuric acid does not mean there is life on Venus,” said Dr. Maxwell Seager, a researcher at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

“But if we had shown that this spine was compromised, there would have been no possibility of life as we know it.”

of study Published in this week's magazine astrobiology.

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Maxwell D. Seeger other. Stability of 20 biogenic amino acids in concentrated sulfuric acid: Implications for the habitability of Venusian clouds. astrobiology, published online March 18, 2024. doi: 10.1089/ast.2023.0082

Source: www.sci.news

Lab experiment suggests CRISPR can disable and treat HIV

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Electron micrograph of HIV, which currently requires lifelong medication

Scott Kamazin/Alamy Stock Photo

A new way to eradicate HIV from the body could one day become a cure for infection with the virus, but it has not yet been proven effective in humans.

The strategy uses a relatively new genetic technology called CRISPR, which can make cuts in DNA and introduce errors into the viral genetic material within immune cells. “These findings represent a vital advance toward the design of therapeutic strategies,” the researchers said. Elena Herrera Carrillo Researchers from the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands said in a statement.

HIV infection used to be almost always fatal, but now people with the virus can take drugs that stop the virus from replicating. Therefore, as long as you diligently take your medication every day, you can maintain a nearly normal lifespan.

But when a person is first infected, some of the virus inserts its DNA into immune cells, where it becomes dormant. When you stop taking your HIV medication, this DNA “reawakens” and the virus begins to spread again through your immune system.

For treatment, we need some way to kill the latent virus in the body. Several strategies have been tried, but so far none have been found to work.

The latest approach uses a gene editing system called CRISPR. Originally discovered in bacteria, it targets specific DNA sequences and makes cuts there. By changing the targeted DNA sequence, the system could be applied as a form of gene therapy for many conditions, and such treatments were launched in the US and UK last year as a treatment for sickle cell anemia. first approved.

Several groups are working with CRISPR to target HIV genes as a way to disable the dormant virus. Now, Carrillo and her team have shown that when tested on immune cells in a dish, the CRISPR system can neutralize all viruses and remove them from these cells. The work will be presented at European Conference on Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Next month in Barcelona, Spain.

Jonathan Stoy Researchers at London’s Francis Crick Institute say the results are encouraging, but the next step is testing in animals and eventually humans to ensure the treatment is available to all people with dormant HIV. The aim is to show that it can reach immune cells, he said. Some of these cells are thought to reside in the bone marrow, but other parts of the body may also be involved, he says. “There is still considerable uncertainty about whether there are other stores in other parts of the body,” he says.

A California company called Excision BioTherapeutics has previously shown that a CRISPR-based approach can: Reduce the amount of latent virus in monkeys infected with a virus similar to HIV.

topic:

Source: www.newscientist.com

New study suggests Coronavirus may have originated in a lab rather than an animal

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There have been various conspiracy theories surrounding COVID-19, from microchips in vaccines to the virus being engineered in a lab. A recent study is challenging these theories by suggesting that the virus is more likely of natural origin.

Researchers from the University of New South Wales in Australia argue that the current debate lacks consideration of non-medical evidence in determining the origin of the virus. They emphasize that their findings do not definitively prove the lab origin theory but rather suggest that such theories should not be dismissed too quickly.

Some scientists criticize the study’s methods for potential biases, and there is still no consensus in the academic community regarding the virus’s origin. The study highlights the need for further research and caution in drawing conclusions.

This study presents evidence supporting the hypothesis of a potential laboratory origin of COVID-19, including unique biological features not found in similar viruses and the proximity of a research facility studying bat coronaviruses to the initial outbreak site in Wuhan.

The study utilized a risk analysis tool to evaluate various criteria related to the virus’s natural or unnatural origin. The tool assigned scores based on evidence such as geographical distribution, virus strains, and transmission modes. The results indicated a higher likelihood of an unnatural origin due to specific biological risks and unconventional strains.

The researchers’ findings have sparked debates within the scientific community, with some experts questioning the tool’s subjectivity and potential for biased interpretations. While the study doesn’t conclusively prove the virus’s origin, it suggests that further investigation is necessary to understand the pandemic’s roots.

Experts like Dr. Jeremy Rothman, Professor Paul Hunter, and Professor Raina McIntyre have cautioned against jumping to conclusions about COVID-19’s origins and emphasize the need for thorough research to uncover the truth.

Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Research suggests that Mars enhances Earth’s deep ocean circulation

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Australian and French geoscientists have used the geological record of Earth's deep ocean to discover a link between our home planet and the orbit of Mars. They discovered a surprising 2.4 million-year cycle of increase and decrease in deep ocean currents, which they found was related to periods of increased solar energy and climate warming.

This image from Mars Express' high-resolution stereo camera shows the Martian Earth set against a dark background. The planet's disk is speckled with yellow, orange, blue, and green, giving it an overall muted shade of gray, representing the varying composition of its surface. Image credit: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin / G. Michael / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

“In 1976, scientists first demonstrated and confirmed the presence of 10,000- to 100,000-year astronomical cycles in deep-sea Pleistocene sediments. Milutin Milanković's theory “Earth's climate is regulated by the periodicity of perturbations in the Earth's orbit around the Sun and Earth's axis of rotation,” said Adriana Dutkiewicz, a researcher at the University of Sydney, and colleagues.

“Apart from the well-known astronomical cycles of 19,000, 23,000, 41,000, 100,000, and 400,000 years, which vary according to the Earth's climate, the geological record includes Large-period signals with longer periods are also included.”

“These large cycles contain orbitally forced periodicities of millions or even tens of millions of years, which are similarly related to incoming solar energy and paleoclimate changes. I am.”

In a new study, the authors used deep-sea sediment records to confirm the link between sediment movement and changes in Earth's orbit.

They discovered that the strength of deep ocean currents changes over a 2.4 million year cycle.

“We were surprised to find these 2.4 million-year cycles in deep-sea sediment data,” Dr. Dutkiewicz said.

“There's only one way to explain them. They're related to the cycle of Mars-Earth interactions around the sun.”

“The gravitational fields of the planets in our solar system interfere with each other, and this interaction, called resonance, changes the planet's eccentricity, a measure of how circular a planet's orbit is.”

“For Earth, that means a 2.4-million-year period of increased solar radiation and a warming climate.”

The researchers found that warming cycles are associated with an increase in deep ocean circulation, which correlates with increased breaks in the deep ocean record.

They identified deep eddies as a key component of early ocean warming.

Although these may partially alleviate ocean stagnation, some predict that subsequent stagnation may follow. AMOC (Atlantic meridional overturning circulation) drives the Gulf Stream and maintains Europe's warm climate.

“We now know that there are at least two distinct mechanisms that contribute to the active mixing of deep water in the ocean,” Professor Müller said.

“Deep-ocean eddies, of which AMOC is one, appear to play an important role in keeping the ocean ventilated in warmer climates.”

“Of course, it doesn't have the same effect as the AMOC in terms of transporting water masses from lower to higher latitudes and vice versa.”

“These eddies are like giant whirlpools that often reach the ocean floor in deep oceans, resulting in seafloor erosion and the accumulation of large sediments called contours that resemble snowdrifts.”

“Our deep-sea data over 65 million years suggests that there is a more active deep circulation in warmer oceans,” Dr. Dutkiewicz said.

“This could prevent ocean stagnation even if the AMOC slows down or stops altogether.”

of study It was published in the magazine nature communications.

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A. Dutkiewicz other. 2024. Deep-sea hibernation records reveal orbital pacing with an orbital eccentricity of 2.4 million grand cycles. Nat Commune 15th, 1998. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-46171-5

Source: www.sci.news

New Study Suggests Photons from Dwarf Galaxies Helped Reionize the Early Universe

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Reionization of the universe happened about 500 million to 900 million years after the Big Bang. This represents the transformation of neutral hydrogen into an ionized gas and marks the end of the “Dark Ages” in the history of the universe. Currently, astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have obtained spectra of eight ultrafaint dwarf galaxies that existed less than a billion years after the Big Bang. Their observations could help settle long-standing scientific debates about the driving force of reionization and could also be essential to understanding the formation of the first galaxies.

Astronomers estimate that 50,000 near-infrared sources are represented in the Webb image of galaxy cluster Abel 2744. Image credits: NASA / ESA / CSA / I. Labbe, Swinburne Institute of Technology / R. Bezanson, University of Pittsburgh / A. Pagan, STScI.

There is still much we don’t understand about the period in the early history of the universe known as the Era of Reionization.

It was a time of darkness, without stars or galaxies, and filled with a thick fog of hydrogen gas, until the first stars ionized the surrounding gas and light began to pass through.

Astronomers have spent decades trying to identify sources that emit radiation powerful enough to gradually remove this hydrogen fog that blanketed the early universe.

“Our discovery reveals the important role played by ultrafaint galaxies in the evolution of the early universe,” said astronomer Dr. Irina Chemelinska from the Paris Institute of Astrophysics.

“They produce ionizing photons that convert neutral hydrogen into ionized plasma during the reionization of the universe.”

“This highlights the importance of understanding low-mass galaxies in shaping the history of the universe.”

“These cosmic power plants collectively emit more than enough energy to accomplish their work,” said Dr. Hakim Atek, also of the Paris Institute of Astrophysics.

“Despite their small size, these low-mass galaxies produce large amounts of energetic radiation, and their abundance during this period is so great that their collective impact alters the state of the entire universe can do.”

In the study, astronomers captured and analyzed the spectra of eight very faint galaxies magnified by the lensing star cluster Abel 2744.

They found that these galaxies emit large amounts of ultraviolet light, at levels four times higher than previously thought.

This means that most of the photons that reionized the Universe likely came from these dwarf galaxies.

“With the web, we have stepped into uncharted territory,” said Dr. Themiya Nanayakkara, an astronomer at Swinburne University of Technology.

“Our study reveals more provocative questions that must be answered in efforts to chart the evolutionary history of our beginnings.”

of result It was published in the magazine Nature.

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H. Atek other. 2024. Most of the photons that reionized the universe came from dwarf galaxies. Nature 626, 975-978; doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07043-6

Source: www.sci.news

Is There a Connection Between Left-Handedness and Liberalism? 52 Years of Data Suggests So

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on the other hand

This is perhaps the most politically insightful psychological study published in the past 60 years. And maybe not.

The study of the problem is Handedness, ideology, and party preferences of state residents: Results of U.S. presidential elections over the past 60 years..

Its author, Stewart J. H. McCann, professor emeritus of psychology at Canada's Cape Breton University, looked closely at data on U.S. (not Canadian) voters from 1964 to 2016 and found that: He says he has discovered striking patterns. High state-level left-handedness was significantly associated with liberal ideology.

What does this mean? McCann distills the answer into her 46-word sentence, which gains more meaning with each dozen readings. Or it doesn't make much sense.

The sentence is as follows: “Such a relationship is speculated to be based on a hypothesized but poorly understood genetic link between handedness, personality, and political beliefs and attitudes; genetic predisposition The effect of left-handedness in the population may have a much larger impact on the correlation. blatant left handed level. ”

Feedback points out that these 46 words, and the paper as a whole, leave a lot to the imagination.

in lonely splendor

A person's individuality shines more when they are alone than when they are with friends.

That's the big reveal in a study called “.Temperament behaviors of sheep tested individually do not correlate with behaviors expressed in the presence of conspecific sheep”.

In particular, researchers from the University of Melbourne in Australia and the University of Edinburgh in the UK say that “vocalization is rare when other sheep are present, suggesting that this behavior is a response to loneliness.”

when nothing is good

James Hodges writes: “In response to your segment about doctors waiting for patients to recover on their own, it's completely part of our job.

“I'm a pediatrician. We take doing nothing very seriously. “Cat-like observation and admirable inactivity” are firmly believed in our world. It's a belief. We often admit patients with viral illnesses for which there is no cure. We watch, we support, and the child gets better.

“There are certainly times when doing nothing is the best treatment. If you have a child who is quite unwell and unstable, getting excited will make the condition worse. We often use the 'minimum response' approach.” This is a categorical way of telling your child to leave you alone. If possible, let your child sleep with your parents so they don&#39t bother you too much. Never force the needle or medicine into it. Experienced pediatric nurses are very good at this (it&#39s truly an art of medicine).

“This is not just children who are acutely unwell. Babies with colic (most of the time) do not become adolescents with colic. There are countless childhood diseases that we do not treat. Depurative purpura is a great example. There are a lot of places where we&#39re treating it, but there&#39s pretty little evidence that it&#39s changing anything.

“Children&#39s physiology is really amazing, and I often feel like a passenger, watching them fix themselves, sometimes providing reassurance and distraction. It&#39s such a great job. .”

(Feedback indicates that, with this letter being an exception, nearly all answers we receive on this question are from retired physicians.)

fresh as an onion

Dimple Devi and her colleagues have devised a way to use onions to extend the freshness of milk.

Researchers based at India&#39s Kokrajhar Central Institute of Technology,Onion peel extract as milk freshness indicator in biopolymer-based intelligent packaging filmsPublished in the magazine food and humanity. When milk spoils, the onionized packaging film changes from pale pink to colorless to brown.

When used in this way, researchers say onions have almost endless benefits. “Addition of onion peel extract to biopolymers decreased water content, water solubility, swelling index, and transparency, and significantly increased antioxidant activity and total phenolic content.'' Utilized agricultural/food processing waste that is generated in large quantities.”

The report does not address the question of how consumers would react to the idea that milk is protected despite not being flavored. – onion.

keep carrying it

As Ken Taylor peruses the ever-growing list of trivial superpowers in his feedback, he asks questions about his abilities. As a teenager, I delivered milk and could manage 6 full pint milk bottles and 10 empty milk bottles. As an adult, I was able to impress my friends by carrying four pints of beer (beer without a handle) with my fingers spread wide and wrapped around the rim. It looks pretty cool as long as you don&#39t drop it. Does this count as a superpower? It&#39s your phone. ”

Ken&#39s calm tenacity as he carries the container embodies the Carry On tradition.

Mark Abrahams hosted the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony and co-founded the magazine Annals of Improbable Research. Previously, he was working on unusual uses of computers.his website is impossible.com.

Have a story for feedback?

You can email your article to Feedback at feedback@newscientist.com. Please enter your home address. This week&#39s and past feedback can be found on our website.

Source: www.newscientist.com

Study suggests Mimas, one of Saturn’s moons, could be responsible for forming Earth’s oceans beneath its icy shell

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From a detailed analysis of Mimas’s orbital motion based on data from NASA’s Cassini mission, planetary researchers from the Sorbonne, the University of Nantes, Queen Mary University of London, Franche-Comte University, and Jinan University have discovered that the heavily cratered They showed that some ice shells hide recently formed ice shells. (less than 2-3 million years ago) global ocean 20-30 km deep.

The surface of Mimas, like the surfaces of other major Saturn moons that do not have atmospheres, is not pure ice but contains some black impurities. Relatively dark markings appear along the lower part of the walls of the 130km-wide Herschel Crater (the crater's central peak is about the same height as Mount Everest); the impact may have all but destroyed the Moon. there is). some small craters. Scientists interpret the darkening as evidence that the impurities have gradually become concentrated as icy material evaporates in areas where they are slowly sliding down the crater walls. Image credit: NASA / JPL / Space Science Institute.

There is growing evidence that some moons may have oceans beneath their surfaces, but such watery worlds are difficult to detect.

Mimas — Saturn's innermost and smallest (radius = 198.2 km, or 123 miles) regular moon — is an unlikely candidate due to the different nature of its surface compared to other icy moons such as Enceladus .

This theory has been challenged by Sorbonne University researcher Valerie Rainey and others who are evaluating Cassini's observations of small satellites.

Previous research suggests two possibilities inside Mimas. It is either an elongated rocky core or a global ocean.

A new study reveals that the small moon's rotational motion and orbit change due to internal influences.

For the solid-state model to apply, the rock core must be elongated and approximately pancake-shaped, which is inconsistent with observations.

Rather, measurements of Mimas' position suggest that the evolution of its orbit is better explained as influenced by an internal ocean.

The researchers calculate that the ocean lies beneath an ice shell about 20 to 30 kilometers deep.

Their simulations suggest that it appeared between 25 and 2 million years ago.

Therefore, signs of such an underground ocean would not have had time to leave traces on the surface.

This result suggests that recent processes on Mimas may have been common during the early stages of the formation of other ice worlds.

“Mimas was a small moon with a cratered surface and no sign of an ocean hidden beneath,” said co-author Nick Cooper, a researcher at Queen Mary University of London. the doctor said.

“With this discovery, Mimas joins an exclusive club of moons with inland oceans, including Enceladus and Europa, but with a unique difference: its oceans are surprisingly young.”

of study Published in today's magazine Nature.

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V. Rainey other. 2024. A recently formed ocean within Saturn's moon Mimas. Nature 626, 280-282; doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06975-9

Source: www.sci.news

New study suggests sponges retain grim climate records

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If temperature-tracking sponges can be trusted, climate change is happening much faster than scientists estimate.

A new study that used marine organisms called hard sponges to measure global average temperatures suggests that the world has already warmed by about 1.7 degrees Celsius over the past 300 years. This is at least 0.5 degrees Celsius higher than the scientific consensus stated in the UN report.

The findings, published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change, are surprising, but some scientists believe the study authors’ conclusions give more inferences about global temperatures than can be confidently gleaned from sponges. They claim that they are doing too much.

However, this study raises important questions. How much warmer did the world get when humans were less systematically measuring temperatures around the world, even as fossil fuel-powered machines were running hard? Scientists say this is an important question. It is a problem that needs to be better understood.

The study’s authors say that industrialization before 1900 had a greater impact than scientists previously realized, and that influence is captured in centuries-old sponge skeletons and that we The standards we have been using to talk about the politics of climate change have been wrong.

“Essentially, these studies show that the industrial age of warming started earlier than we thought, in the 1860s,” said the study’s lead author, a researcher at the University of Western Australia’s Global Professor of Chemistry Malcolm McCulloch spoke about sponges. “The big picture is that the global warming clock has been moved forward by at least 10 years to reduce emissions to minimize the risks of a dangerous climate.”

Scientists not involved in the study say their colleagues are grappling with how much warming occurred in the decades after the industrial revolution and before temperature records became more reliable. .

“This is not the only effort to reexamine what we call the pre-industrial baseline and suggest we may have missed the increase in warming during the 19th century,” said Brown University paleoclimate and oceanography expert. said Kim Cobb, author of the report. Brown Institute for the Environment and Society. “This is an important area of ​​uncertainty.”

In its latest assessment of global warming, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimated that the Earth’s surface temperature has increased by up to 1.2 degrees Celsius since before the industrial revolution.

Some scientists believe that the IPCC process (which requires consensus) will yield conservative results. For example, scientists who study Earth’s ice have expressed concern that the Earth is approaching the tipping point of the ice sheet sooner than expected and that the IPCC’s sea level rise projections are too low.

Cobb, who did not contribute to the Nature Climate Change study, said a large amount of evidence would be needed to change what scientists call the pre-industrial baseline, but other researchers have argued that warming has increased since before the 1900s. He also said that he has found some signs that the system is not being properly accounted for. .

“How big this extra warming increase actually is is currently unknown. Is this important to study? We could be missing a tenth of a degree. Is there a? Yes, I think it’s been uncovered in a series of studies over the last six to 10 years,” Cobb said.

Scleros sponges are one of many climate proxies used by scientists to gather information about past climate conditions. In the dural cavernosa, the skeletal growth layers serve a similar purpose to marine biologists, just as tree rings serve a purpose to those working in the forest.

Dural sponges grow slowly, and as they grow, the chemical composition of their skeleton changes based on the surrounding temperature. This means that scientists can track temperature by looking at the ratio of strontium to calcium as an organism steadily grows.

Studies show that every half millimeter of growth is equivalent to about two years of temperature data. Living things can grow and add layers to their skeletons over hundreds of years.

“These are truly unique specimens. The reason we are able to obtain this unique data is because of the special relationship these animals have with their surrounding environment,” McCulloch said.

The study’s authors collected sponges from waters at least 100 feet deep off the coast of Puerto Rico and near St. Croix, analyzed the chemical composition of their skeletons, graphed the results, and used the data from 1964 to When compared with sea surface temperature measurements in 2012, the trends were almost identical.

Cancellous bone data dates back to 1700, predating reliable human records. This gives scientists a longer reference point to assess what temperatures were like before fossil fuels became widespread. Researchers believe this dataset is superior to other datasets calculated using her 19th century temperature measurements from ocean-going ships.

Sponge data shows that temperatures started rising in the 1860s, before the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change considered it.

But some outside researchers say the study may have made too much use of one type of proxy indicator, especially when the data is tied to only one location on Earth.

“We should be cautious in assuming that estimates from parts of the Atlantic Ocean always reflect global averages,” Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, said in an emailed statement. He added that the author’s claims are probably wrong. “It’s gone too far.”

The study authors said they believe the waters off Puerto Rico have remained relatively stable, reflecting global changes similar to those elsewhere in the world.

The results suggest that humanity has already surpassed political guardrails, such as world leaders’ goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Cobb said further work would need to be done with a dural sponge to ensure the work was accurate. And regardless of how much we are already pushing up the planet’s temperature, humanity must put the brakes on greenhouse gas production.

“Every time we get warmer, the climate impacts increase and the climate impacts worsen,” Cobb said. “We’re already living with an unsafe warming climate. … Jobs haven’t changed.”

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Increasing proof suggests that consuming a daily multivitamin can aid in maintaining strength as you grow older

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It is unclear which components of multivitamins are involved in improving cognitive function.

Asia Vision/Getty Images

Studies have shown that taking a daily multivitamin slows the rate of memory decline in older adults.

This study is the third randomized trial to yield such results, and adds to a growing body of evidence that multivitamins can slow age-related cognitive decline.

“The result is the equivalent of delaying cognitive aging by two years, which is huge,” he says. joan manson from Harvard Medical School was involved in all three clinical trials. These were part of a larger study, funded by the makers of cocoa supplements, to examine whether taking multivitamins and cocoa extract supplements could help prevent heart disease and cancer in people over 60.

Some participants also took a memory test designed to measure whether any of the supplements were having a psychological effect.

The latest trial compared both types of supplements with a placebo pill in 573 people who took in-person memory tests at the start of the study and two years later. Those who took a multivitamin called Centrum Silver performed slightly better on memory tests than those who took a placebo pill.

This is similar to the results of two other arms of a large study that administered memory tests to people online or over the phone.

“The results of this study suggest that multivitamins hold promise as a safe and affordable strategy to protect memory and slow cognitive aging in older adults,” Munson says.

It is unclear which components of multivitamins are responsible for their effects.

Duane Mellor The British Dietetic Association says the trial was not designed to investiage memory effects and further research specifically set up to study this issue is needed. “The results need to be treated with caution,” he says. “It's not a definitive study.”

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Source: www.newscientist.com

New study suggests Gigantopithecus became extinct 215,000-295,000 years ago

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Gigantopithecus brachyThe largest primate in history and one of the largest species of Southeast Asian megafauna, it lived in China from about 2 million years until its extinction during the Middle Pleistocene. New research shows that starting 2.3 million years ago, this environment was a mosaic of forests and grasses, providing ideal conditions to thrive. Gigantopithecus brachy population. However, from 295,000 years ago, just before and during the extinction period 215,000 years ago, increased seasonality led to increased environmental variability, changes in plant communities, and an increase in open forest environments. Although they are close relatives, Chinese orangutan (Pongo Weidenrach)managed to adapt their food preferences and behavior to this fluctuation. Gigantopithecus brachy There were signs of chronic stress and population decline. Ultimately, that struggle to adapt led to the extinction of the largest primate to ever live on Earth.

Impressions of a group of artists Gigantopithecus brachy In the forest of southern China. Image credit: Garcia / Joannes-Boyau, Southern Cross University.

Gigantopithecus brachy It is an extinct giant hominid that once lived in the jungles of Southeast Asia.

As the name suggests, this giant primate was larger than a gorilla, reaching up to 3 meters (10 feet) tall and weighing up to 540 kg (1,200 pounds).

“Our current understanding is that Gigantopithecus brachy “It originates from early to mid-Pleistocene cave deposits between the Yangtze River in southern China and the South China Sea,” said Professor Yingqi Zhang of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and colleagues.

“This primate is known for its unusually large molars, abnormally thick enamel, estimated height of about 3 meters, and weight of 200 to 300 kg, making it the largest primate to have ever existed on Earth. I am.”

“Despite 85 years of exploration, Gigantopithecus blacki's fossil record is limited to four mandibles and nearly 2,000 isolated teeth, with no postcranial evidence. ”

“The initial discovery as a 'dragon's tooth' in a pharmacy in Hong Kong led to the search for the first in situ finds, which led to the discovery of several cave sites in two major regions of Chongzuo and Fuping basins in Guangxi province. This led to the discovery of

“These sites contain important evidence of its survival and eventual demise.”

“Providing a clear cause for a species' extinction is a major feat, but establishing the exact time a species disappeared from the fossil record provides a target time frame for environmental reconstruction and behavioral assessment.” said Macquarie University geochronologist Dr John Martin. Kira Westaway.

“Without reliable dating, you're simply looking for clues in the wrong places.”

To identify potential causes Gigantopithecus brachy In case of extinction, the researchers applied a regional approach to 22 caves in the Chongzuo and Bupyeong basins. Gigantopithecus brachy-Bearing or non-bearing-Gigantopithecus brachy-Contains cave deposits.

They combined previous excavations with recently discovered caves to identify and sample fossil breccias for dating, paleoclimate estimation, and behavioral analysis.

Six different dating techniques were applied to the cave deposits and fossils, yielding 157 radiometric dates.

Luminescence dating measures light-sensitive signals in buried sediments. Gigantopithecus brachy Fossils were the primary technology supported by uranium series and electron spin resonance dating. Gigantopithecus brachy The tooth itself.

“Direct dating of the fossil remains allowed us to confirm that their ages match the luminescence order of the deposits in which they were found, providing a comprehensive and reliable chronology of the human extinction. Gigantopithecus brachy'' said Dr Renaud-Joan Boyau, a geochronologist at Southern Cross University.

The findings show that Gigantopithecus brachy They went extinct between 295,000 and 215,000 years ago, much earlier than previously thought.

Before this time, Gigantopithecus brachy They thrived in rich and diverse forests.

By 700,000 to 600,000 years ago, the environment had further changed due to increased seasonal intensity, leading to changes in the structure of forest communities.

orangutans etc. Pongo Weidenrach They adapted their size, behavior, and habitat preferences in response to changing conditions.

In comparison, Gigantopithecus brachy When preferences were not available, they relied on backup food sources with low nutritional value, reducing dietary diversity.

The primates experienced reduced locomotion, reduced geographic foraging range, chronic stress and population decline.

“Gigantopithecus brachy “It was the ultimate specialist compared to more agile adapters like orangutans, but this ultimately led to its demise,” Professor Chan said.

“With the threat of a sixth mass extinction looming over us, there is an urgent need to understand why species go extinct,” Dr Westaway said.

“Exploring the reasons for unresolved extinctions in the past is a good starting point for understanding the resilience of primates and the fate of other large animals in the past and future.”

of findings Published in today's diary Nature.

_____

Y. Chan other.The end of the giant ape Gigantopithecus brachy. Nature, published online on January 10, 2024. doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06900-0

Source: www.sci.news

Government suggests culling owl population to protect endangered species

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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed a plan to shoot hundreds of thousands of barred owls in West Coast forests over the next 30 years, arguing that the survival of one owl species depends on the extinction of another. The spotted owl, not native to the area, is displacing its genetically related barred owl, the bureau said.

Unless action is taken against barred owls, the spotted owl could disappear from parts of Washington and Oregon within a few years and eventually become extinct, according to service biologists.

This proposal is the latest effort to save the spotted owl, whose decline became a rallying point for environmentalists against logging in the Pacific Northwest in the 1980s. This plan raises questions about how far humans should go to save species and the cost of righting historic ecological wrongs, as the barred owls may have become established in the Pacific Northwest under human influence as European settlers spread westward.

The proposal calls for the “lethal removal” (killing with shotguns) of more than 470,000 barred owls in total and is open for public comment until January 16th. It may be difficult for the undiscerning eye to distinguish barred owls from spotted owls, as both have pale faces and mottled brown and white coats and belong to the same genus. However, barred owls are slightly larger, breed faster, are more aggressive, and are less discriminatory about where they live and what they eat.

The spotted owl population has declined by about 75 percent over the past 20 years, primarily due to barred owls, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The plan would eliminate the barred owls from 1-2% of its current range, and the removal of barred owls has been shown to stabilize the spotted owl population, although the impact has not been substantial.

Despite the dominance of barred owls, the population is likely to recover over time, and the cost of righting historic ecological wrongs is still uncertain. Wildlife biologists consulted with an ethicist about killing the animals, and while some animal rights groups disagree with the plan, a final proposal is expected to be released in the spring or summer after the public comment period on the USFWS proposal ends.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

FTC suggests fortifying COPPA and tightening restrictions on tech monitoring of children

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The FTC proposed strengthening rules to protect children from the surveillance economy. The updated rules will require companies to get parental permission before sharing data with advertisers and prohibit them from retaining data for vague “internal operations,” among other things.

“The proposed changes to COPPA are much needed, especially in an era when online tools are essential to daily life and companies are deploying increasingly sophisticated digital tools to monitor children. Masu.” FTC Chair Lina Khan said: In a blog post. “Children need to be able to play and learn online without being endlessly tracked by companies looking to hoard and monetize their personal data.”

The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) has been in place since 2000 and remains effective at preventing the most egregious data collection and abuse of children, but it was last updated in 2013 and now has a new coat. can do. of paint. The FTC asked for comments a long time ago on how the rules should change, and (as is often the case with Internet privacy issues) the response was overwhelming.

“We received more than 175,000 comments after the FTC announced it was considering revisions to the COPPA rule.” the agency mentioned in a news release.. “The proposed rule reflects what he has heard from parents, educators, industry members, researchers and others, and his 23 years of experience enforcing COPPA.”

The agency will soon issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), a draft of the new COPPA regulations, that the public will be able to comment on and criticize for the next 60 days. The exact timing will depend on when this document is published in the Federal Register, which is outside the FTC’s control, but could happen in the coming weeks. In the meantime, what you can do is Watch the draft here.

The updated rules require:

  • Parents will opt-in before sharing their child’s information with third parties, unless sharing is “essential” to the service. Expect many things to suddenly “integrate” next year.
  • Narrow the loophole in “support for internal operations.” For example, Amazon exploited this exception to retain children’s information indefinitely to improve its speech recognition models. Hopefully it will be less.
  • Better justify “nudges” like push notifications to get kids to open apps or stay online.
  • We do not force children to provide personal data to use our apps or features. For example, “Give me your birthday to get her 100 free crystals.”
  • Data is not retained beyond its original stated use. As in the Amazon example, you can use your child’s voice command to launch an app (its primary use), but then you can’t “reliably” launch anything else.
  • Schools and school districts may authorize educational technology providers to collect and use personal information about students for educational purposes only.
  • “Personal information” now includes biometrics.

There are a few other details about the NPRM itself (of interest primarily to those directly involved). If you would like to know more about why these things are necessary, or why he needs COPPA in the first place, please contact Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya. We have released a helpful commentary on this topic.

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) approved the update, calling it “an encouraging step toward putting safeguards in place to protect the youngest users of social media from constant surveillance and manipulation.” .

But, he continued, “Rulemaking is not a substitute for law, and Congress needs to act. Create minimum age requirements for social media use and prohibit algorithmic targeting of children and teens. We urgently need to pass legislation to protect children online.”

Given the current state of Congress and (at least) the prospect of losing a controversial election in 2024, I doubt the senators’ urgency will translate into legislation any time soon. FTC rules will need to remain in place for some time to come.

Source: techcrunch.com

“Study suggests Neanderthal DNA might be linked to being a morning person” – UK Researchers

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Have you ever wondered why your partner stays awake with a lark while you doze happily until noon?

According to new research, it could be thanks to Neanderthal genes.

The origins of modern humans can be traced back to Africa 300,000 years ago, but as these ancestors migrated north, they interbred with Neanderthals, and traces of their DNA can still be seen in people today. .

The study’s lead author, John Capra, an epidemiologist at the University of California, San Francisco, said scientists who compared ancient DNA to modern human genetics found “remarkable trends.”

They found that many of the remaining Neanderthal genes influence our body clocks and “increase our tendency to be morning people.”

Neanderthals lived at higher latitudes and farther from the equator than our African ancestors, experiencing longer days in the summer and shorter days in the winter.

Genes that make people wake up earlier “are likely able to adjust their circadian clocks more quickly to changing seasonal light patterns,” Dr. Capra said, which is why Neanderthals maximized daylight hours for hunting. He was able to utilize it to a limited extent.

Scientists have previously investigated how the circadian rhythms of insects, plants and fish have evolved with latitude. However, it has not been well studied in humans.

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Researchers wanted to see if there was a genetic reason for the differences in circadian rhythms between Neanderthals and modern humans, and found 16 mutations associated with greater “morningness”, or the tendency to rise early. .

They reasoned that because Neanderthals interbred with the ancestors of modern humans, modern humans may have inherited Neanderthal “circadian mutations.”

To test this, scientists analyzed the genes of hundreds of thousands of people in the UK Biobank and discovered a number of mutations that affect sleep preferences.

“Most surprisingly, we found that these mutants consistently increased morningness,” the researchers said.

This is consistent with what has been found in other animals that adapted to life at high latitudes, such as Neanderthals.

The study was published in Genome Biology and Evolution.

Source: news.sky.com