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Physiology

Challenges of human nutrition research – Science Magazine

In 1945, a domiciled feeding study carried out at the University of Minnesota involved participants being fed a semistarvation diet.

Nutrition is fundamentally important for human health (1), but there is widespread public confusion about what constitutes a healthy diet. Flip-flopping headlines report conflicting information about whether individual foods (e.g., butter, eggs, meat), nutrients (e.g., saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium), or eating patterns (e.g., Mediterranean versus ketogenic diets) result in improved, worsened, or unchanged health. However, public confusion about nutrition belies expert consensus regarding important aspects of healthy diets. For example, it is widely agreed that Western diets high in ultra-processed food are deleterious and that considerable health improvements would likely result from shifting the population toward eating mostly minimally processed foods (2). But expert consensus erodes when discussing detailed questions of optimal human nutrition or the physiological mechanisms underlying the body's response to diet changes. Rigorous controlled feeding studies would help to address such questions and advance human nutrition science, a field whose overall veracity has recently been questioned (3, 4).

Much of the criticism of nutrition science has been directed at nutritional epidemiology, a field that investigates associations between diet and health outcomes in large numbers of people. Although nutritional epidemiology has ardent defenders (5, 6), its critics suggest that it is plagued by measurement error, reverse causality, selection bias, weak effects, analytical flexibility, and unmeasured or residual confounders that can result in spurious relationships between diet variables and health outcomes (7). Increased funding for large, long-term randomized diet intervention trials has been suggested as a way to mitigate reliance on nutritional epidemiology and improve causal inference about the effects of diet on human health (8). However, such trials have their own challenges, including the impracticality of randomizing large numbers of people to eat different diets for months or years while ensuring high levels of adherence throughout.

Indeed, most randomized diet intervention trials do not actually study the effects of different diets; rather, they investigate the effects of differing diet advice. In other words, subjects are randomized to receive education and support to consume diets that are assigned by the investigators. Although diet-advice trials assess real-world effectiveness, their results conflate adherence to a given diet with the effects of that diet.

Knowledge about the effects of diet per se is required for advancement of fundamental nutrition science. However, studies in free-living people have a limited ability to provide such knowledge because it is not currently possible to accurately and objectively quantify their food intake. Indeed, most human nutrition studies rely on self-reported diet measures that are known to have systematic biases, such as underestimation of energy intake. Furthermore, errors in self-reported diet measurements may be associated with other variables (e.g., socioeconomic status) or health outcomes (e.g., obesity) that can result in biased associations (9).

Rather than relying on self-reported diet assessments, some diet intervention trials provide food to their free-living subjects, but these studies seldom verify whether all the food is eaten. Even when subjects are instructed to eat only the food provided by the study, substantial quantities of off-study food may be consumed amounting to several hundred kilocalories per day that can confound study results (10, 11). To understand how these challenges impede the progress of human nutrition science, imagine trying to develop a new drug without being confident that researchers could administer known quantities of the drug or measure its pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, or dose response. Successful pharmaceutical development requires such studies because they investigate benefits and risks of the drug under highly controlled conditions where questions of patient adherence are minimized because the researchers administer the drug. The inability to conduct such trials would severely impede the drug development process. Why should human nutrition science be expected to advance without the benefit of well-controlled diet efficacy studies?

Therefore, it is important to conduct human nutrition studies where subjects can comfortably reside at a research facility, thereby allowing investigators to control and objectively measure their food intake. Subjects enrolled in such domiciled feeding studies are required to stay at the research facility for periods of days, weeks, or months without leaving to ensure that they consume the provided food under observation while avoiding exposure to off-study food.

Domiciled feeding studies have a long history of yielding important discoveries about human nutrition and metabolism. For example, many of the physiological responses to starvation and nutritional rehabilitation were revealed in a controlled feeding study of 32 male volunteers who simultaneously resided at the University of Minnesota for a continuous 48-week period during the Second World War (12) (see the photo). The subjects were fed a baseline diet for 12 weeks followed by a 24-week semistarvation diet, after which they were fed several rehabilitation diets for the final 12 weeks. The resulting detailed physiological and psychological measurements in response to known diets would have been impossible had the subjects not been domiciled during this classic study.

Unfortunately, domiciled feeding studies have become prohibitively expensive in the United States since the National Institutes of Health ceased directly funding Clinical Research Centers (13). Very few centers around the world currently conduct domiciled feeding studies, and their study populations often comprise students, staff, and faculty, which limits their generalizability. Furthermore, the few facilities conducting domiciled feeding studies are typically limited to housing and feeding only a handful of subjects at a time, which restricts their power and duration.

Such limitations are surmountable. Investment in research facilities for domiciled feeding studies could provide the infrastructure and staff required to simultaneously house and feed dozens of subjects comfortably and safely. One possibility would be to create centralized domiciled feeding facilities that could enable teams of researchers from around the world to recruit a wide range of subjects and efficiently conduct rigorous human nutrition studies that currently can only be performed on a much smaller scale in a handful of existing facilities.

Well-designed domiciled feeding studies can increase the rigor of human nutrition science and elucidate the fundamental mechanisms by which diet affects human physiology. For example, such studies can investigate complex interactions among changes in diet, the microbiota, and its role in modulating host physiology. The effects of meal timing and circadian biology could be advanced by enabling precisely controlled periods for eating and sleeping. Personalized nutrition and nutrient-genomic interaction studies could be facilitated by reducing the usual noise of unknown diet variability to focus on individual physiological variability in response to controlled diets. Nutrient requirements and their dependence on overall dietary and physical activity patterns could be assessed in a variety of populations of men and women of different ethnicities and ages. The effects of diet on physical and cognitive performance could also be carefully evaluated. Comprehensive assessment of the effects of diet interventions on common health conditions such as obesity, metabolic syndrome, and type 2 diabetes, as well as rare diseases such as those that result from inborn errors of metabolism, could also be rigorously determined in domiciled subjects.

Although domiciled feeding studies can provide important mechanistic insights, their artificial environment may limit generalizability and application to free-living populations. Furthermore, domiciled feeding studies alone are insufficient for determining what constitutes a healthy diet because it is impossible to continuously house for several years the large numbers of subjects that would be required to objectively measure both food intake and clinical endpoints, such as cardiovascular events or diabetes progression. Therefore, long-term nutrition studies in free-living people will always be required.

Nonetheless, domiciled feeding studies can help to improve long-term human nutrition studies. For example, the development and validation of objective diet assessment technologies requires domiciled feeding studies because the only way to objectively know what people eat is to house them continuously in a research facility and directly measure their food intake. Advancement of objective diet assessment technologies has been identified as a top priority for human nutrition science (14) and promising new technologies are emerging, such as sensors and cameras that detect food intake. Biomarkers of diet are also being developed, such as plasma concentrations of vitamin C and carotenoids as indicators of fruit and vegetable intake. Domiciled feeding studies can validate objective diet assessment technologies and biomarkers in diverse subject groups consuming a variety of known diets. These validated technologies and standardized biomarkers can then be deployed in large, long-term nutrition studies to monitor diet adherence and improve understanding of the relationships between diet and disease, and diet and health.

Domiciled feeding studies can also help researchers to design and interpret large, long-term nutrition studies. For example, surrogate biomarkers of disease risk often change rapidly in response to controlled diet interventions. When surrogate markers are causally related to disease risk, then it may be possible to cautiously extrapolate the results of domiciled feeding studies, especially those that test dose responses, and to estimate the effects of diet changes on long-term disease risk. Such information can be useful for planning long-term randomized diet trials by helping to avoid underpowered studies whose null statistical results might be misinterpreted to conclude that the diet had no real effect when even a small undetected effect might be important, especially on the population scale.

For example, prior to devoting many millions of dollars to a large, long-term randomized trial of a Westernized Mediterranean diet intended to prevent cardiovascular disease, domiciled feeding studies could be used to help develop and validate biomarkers of varying degrees of adherence to the dietary pattern while also evaluating surrogate markers of disease risk in response to known diet changes. For a relatively small fraction of the overall investment, data from such a domiciled feeding study could be used to help plan and interpret the results of the large, long-term randomized trial.

The advancement of human nutrition science has enormous benefits for health and the economy (15). Knowledge of nutrition requires triangulation of evidence from a variety of study designs, including observational studies and randomized trials in free-living people. Facilitating more domiciled feeding studies will lead to fundamental new discoveries about the mechanistic physiological responses to diet and will improve human nutrition research in all its forms.

Acknowledgments: Thanks to N. K. Fukagawa, M. B. Katan, K. C. Klatt, P. Ohukainen, M. L. Reitman, and E. J. Weiss for insightful comments. Supported by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

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Challenges of human nutrition research - Science Magazine

Physiology

The science behind Tom Hamiltons voice – Let’s Go Tribe

Tom Hamiltons home run call is the best in baseball. Other announcers might bring his level of passion for the game to the broadcast, but he stands alone with his talent for highlighting great moments. He never fails to rise to the occasion, and the sound of his voice is iconic. Not just in Cleveland, but around the game. You dont have to take my word for it, either; Hamilton is one of the finalists for the Ford C. Frick award, given annually to a broadcaster to recognize major contributions to the game of baseball.

What is it, exactly, that makes Hamiltons voice so captivating? I reached out to a voice and vocal performance expert by the name of Karen Perta, MS, CCC-SLP who performs research about how, exactly, humans create the sounds that they do. In addition to being the perfect person to speak with about this subject, Karen is my girlfriend. This is a transcript of our interview discussing the unique sound that Hamilton brings to millions of listeners every season.

MS: Before we get into the physiology behind Tom Hamilton I thought wed talk a little bit about your history with baseball.

KP: My history with baseball? I would say that I was not a sports fan growing up except that I have identical young twin sisters that are younger and identical twin cousins that are older. Every summer as soon as school let out, we picked up our cousins in Maryland so they could spent the summer with us in upstate New York. It was like growing up with two sets of twin sisters. My cousins are die-hard Orioles fans, so I was raised an Orioles fan despite growing up in Yankees country. I begged my Dad to take me to a baseball game the summer before fourth grade. He said he would take me but on one condition I had to learn the names, numbers, and positions of at least three players on the Red Sox and the Orioles. But my cousins taught me all of the players on both teams, all their numbers, positions, batting averages, etc. That was the crazy Brady Anderson year, and if I remember correctly they had Cal Ripken Jr, Palmeiro, Robbie Alomar, BJ Surhoff, Chris Hoiles ... and I remember Mo Vaughn on the Red Sox. So needless to say I got to go to the game, and I think I remember Vaughn hitting one out of Fenway that day. Fourth grade me concluded it was a great idea to wear a Mo Vaughn t-shirt and an Orioles hat on the first day of school. That didnt go over great in upstate New York.

MS: I think that gives you all the necessary credentials as a baseball fan. What about professionally?

KP: I am a voice-specialized medical speech language pathologist and singing voice specialist. Ive been practicing for nine years and I am coming to the end of my second year pursuing a PhD in Speech and Hearing Science with a specialization in vocal tract physiology. I use MRI, endoscopy, and cadavers to do my research. If thats too many big words, Im a speech therapist and I study how throat parts move to make all of the different sounds humans can make.

MS: We had a chance to sit down and listen to some of Tom Hamiltons most famous calls before we got started today. What are some of the things that stand out?

KP: Its distinct and recognizable. Hes got a base layer of that standard announcer voice, but when he gets excited its spontaneous, joyful, and genuine. Thats the part that really stands out to me. Hes essentially belting in the high tenor range with a vocal distortion.

MS: What do you mean by a distortion?

KP: Its an arytenoid distortion. The arytenoids are two cartilages that slide around on a unique and complex joint at the back of your larynx. They help to open and close your vocal folds. Hamilton is firmly closing his vocal folds when he gets loud, and my best guess is that its his arytenoids coming forward and vibrating against his epiglottis, or swallowing flap. Some would call that a rattle; others might call it a growl sound. Its a high pitch and his larynx is high a low larynx is what we might see in a growl that sounds darker very similar to the Cookie Monster sound.

MS: [impersonating] COOOKIE MONSTER. COOOOOOKIE. MONSTER.

KP: Anyway, theres not really a consistently agreed-upon term for it, but its a distortion involving parts above the vocal folds. You can hear similar examples in metal music. Or, Alex Brightman (Beetlejuice on Broadway) is doing something a little different, but its in the same neighborhood. The main difference is that Hamiltons distortion is more intermittent, and it happens consistently on certain words. CAN you BUH-lieve it! or aWAYYY back, GONE! He uses it for emphasis, especially on the more exciting calls.

MS: Is that a conscious choice that hes making?

KP: Probably not. In my professional opinion Id consider what he does art, and hes in a similar situation to what is expected from you in the recording studio. He needs to have a distinct and instantly recognizable sound. If Im flipping stations on the radio and I listen for two or three seconds, I know Oh, thats Adele. Sports casters need to have that same recognition to stand out. A lot of sportscasters have that deep, smooth, clear voice but soothing. Think someone like Dan Rather or Casey Casem to borrow from non-sportscasters.

MS: What about someone like Vin Scully?

KP: Hes a little bit twangier, kind of like the old-timey newscaster voice from war reels and such.

MS: Kind of like what Hank Azaria does as Brockmire?

KP: A little bit, yes. With Hamilton, I think [the arytenoid distortion] is a quirk of his that he, probably subconsciously, developed over time. But its a feature of his voice that makes him immediately recognizable and distinct. Hes one of the only broadcasters Ive ever heard that uses a distortion. Historically, its something thats been discouraged, but I think that view is rapidly changing. These sounds are becoming more mainstream and the Beetlejuice musical is a good example of that. Thats what makes it kind of amazing Hamilton has been doing it for so long and its never something that got fixed or caused him any injuries that I am aware of. Thats one of the hallmarks of a talented vocal artists that use distortions, too: the ability to do it consistently, night after night, and not injure their voice.

MS: What type of other artists might you compare him to?

KP: Well, B-Flat 4 is consistently his high note on exciting plays like game winners. Belting that high with a distortion is not all that different from what metal singers might do. Another thing that immediately comes to mind is Louis Armstrong, but hes not doing it on notes that are nearly as high. Its a very similar mechanic but on much lower pitches.

MS: Is Rob Thomas close? Think about, say, the I in I wanna take you for granted or throughout the rest of Push?

KP: Thats close, but its not quite right. He does that a little bit but its not quite as pronounced. I hate the Yankees but Enter Sandman is also awfully close. And Zack de la Rocha from Rage Against the Machine goes there, too, but again, not there. Kurt Cobain on the other hand had a growly sound, but that was more constriction than anything. Disturbed might actually be the closest on Down with the Sickness.

MS: This sounds like it underlines how distinct Hamilton is, then? Even among people who we more traditionally associate as performers use the same, people that use that distortion tend to do it in a much lower range and with a low larynx rather than a belt.

KP: I would say so, yes! In my mind hes definitely worthy of the Ford C. Frick award.

MS: I think everybody here will agree with you on that. Well see whether or not we have the normal Hall of Fame weekend this year given all the cancellations, but I imagine theyll still give the award.

KS: You can even consider this as scientific evidence that he deserves it.

MS: Done. Well quote you on that when he wins.

Contact information for Karen Perta available upon request for further discussion of and questions regarding vocal physiology.

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The science behind Tom Hamiltons voice - Let's Go Tribe

Physiology

Yale researchers say artificial sweeteners can make healthy people sick if they are paired with this – Ladders

Low-calorie sweeteners are supposed to be a healthy way to still enjoy the flavors we love. When these ingredients first burst on the scene many years ago they seemed almost too good to be true, and those feelings were vindicated when several recent studies concluded that low-cal sweeteners disrupt our metabolisms and even promote diabetes and obesity.

Talk about a role reversal. These products are supposed to help people lose weight.

However, other recent research projects have come to conflicting conclusions; that food and drinks containing low-cal sweeteners are perfectly fine for our metabolisms and in all likelihood are a beneficial aid in the pursuit of weight loss.

So, which one is it? A team of Yale researchers may finally put an end to the debate. Well, sort of.

This new piece of Yale researchers found that people who regularly drank beverages containing the low-calorie sweetener sucralose did, in fact, develop problematic metabolic and neural responses. Sucralose can be found in a wide variety of diet and low-cal soft drinks, candy bars, breakfast bars, and other food products. Splenda is produced using sucralose.

But, heres the catch: these problematic reactions only occurred in participants if a carbohydrate in the form of a tasteless sugar had been added to their low-cal beverage. Conversely, participants who just drank the low-cal beverage or even a sugary drink didnt experience any of the aforementioned metabolic or neural changes.

To put it in less scientific terms, it appears that low-cal sweeteners are only harmful when paired with some carbs. So, the next time you feel like a Diet Coke, just dont drink it while eating some pasta.

The subjects had seven low-calorie drinks, each containing the equivalent of two packages of Splenda, over two weeks, says senior author Dana Small, professor of psychiatry and psychology and director of the Modern Diet and Physiology Research Center, in a press release. When the drink was consumed with just the low-calorie sweetener, no changes were observed; however, when this same amount of low-calorie sweetener was consumed with a carbohydrate added to the drink, sugar metabolism and brain response to sugar became impaired.

The research team had originally wanted to test the notion that consuming low-cal sweeteners results in an uncoupling of ones sweet taste perceptions and energy levels. Essentially, this theory suggests that regularly consuming low-cal sweetened products results in ones body developing a diminished physiological response to even real sugar; no more sugar rushes or mood boosts. This phenomenon could conceivably lead to an overall more lethargic lifestyle, contributing to weight gain, diabetes, and glucose intolerance.

These results, though, disprove that hypothesis. Instead, pointing to the mixture of low-cal products and carbs resulting in metabolic impairment.

The bottom line is that, at least in small quantities, individuals can safely drink a diet soda, but they shouldnt add French fries, concludes Small. This is important information, particularly for people with diabetes who shouldnt consume sugars.

While this study provides some answers as to why previous studies have come to varying conclusions on the effects of low-cal sweeteners, its findings also raise a number of new questions. Why does the pairing of carbs & low-cal sweeteners result in detrimental metabolic changes? What role do our brains and neurons play in all this? We seriously shouldnt eat fries with diet soda anymore?

If theres one definite conclusion that can be drawn from all of this, its that manufacturers, scientists, and consumers alike dont have a full understanding of how products like Splenda interact with ones body chemistry.

The full study can be found here, published in Cell Metabolism.

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Yale researchers say artificial sweeteners can make healthy people sick if they are paired with this - Ladders

Physiology

With Temperatures Rising, Can Animals Survive the Heat Stress? – Yale Environment 360

In the early 20th century, pioneering naturalist Joseph Grinnell and his team studied the flora and fauna of California, conducting meticulous surveys across large swaths of the state, including the Mojave Desert. They collected 100,000 specimens and took 74,000 pages of field notes, creating an invaluable baseline against which to measure long-term change.

Several years ago, a research team from the Grinnell Resurvey Project at the University of California, Berkeley set out to find how desert birds had fared over the last century. The changes were profound. In a study published last fall, the team found that on average temperatures in the desert had increased 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, making one of the worlds hottest places even hotter.

They also found that nearly a third of the 135 bird species present a century ago are far less common today and not nearly as widespread. The heat stress associated with climate change is the culprit, the study concluded, because desert birds need more water to keep cool, but it is not available.

We often think that climate change may cause a mass mortality event in the future, but this study tells us that the change in climate that has already occurred is too hot and in certain areas, animals cant tolerate the warming and drying that has already occurred, said Eric Riddell, a physiological ecologist and the lead author.

The impacts of a hotter world are no longer off in the future they have already arrived. As the planet grows warmer, the effects of heat stress on organisms trying to survive outside the temperature envelope they evolved in is becoming increasingly evident. From insects to coral reefs to biodiversity across entire ecosystems, researchers are chronicling the serious impacts of heat stress as temperatures break records. And several leading scientists believe we are underestimating the impacts, even as the heat ramps up.

The period from 2015 to 2019 was the warmest five-year period on record, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Association, and the just-finished decade was the hottest since record-keeping began. Last summer across Europe numerous high temperature records were broken, and the frequency, intensity, and duration of heat waves are all expected to increase, according to a recent paper. Marine heat waves are occurring four or five times more frequently than in the 1980s, according to another recent study.

Australia has been ground zero for recent extreme heat waves. Heat waves have occurred for centuries across the dry continent, but of the 39 known ones, 35 have taken place since 1994. This past summer was the second-hottest on record and the country is projected to warm faster than the global average, rising 4 degrees Celsius (7 degrees F) by 2100. Australia set a new record high in 2019 of 107.4 degrees F, which was an average of highs across the country. The individual record-high temperature was 121 degrees F in 2019 in Port Augusta.

One of the best-studied heat events in Australia took place in 2011 and shows how devastating the effects of extreme heat can be, on both terrestrial and marine ecosystems. The exceptional temperatures, a 2018 paper concluded, caused rapid, diverse, and broad scale changes and triggered abrupt, synchronous ecological disruptions, including mortality, demographic shifts, and altered species distributions. The paper said that tree die-off and coral bleaching occurred simultaneously in response to the heat wave and were accompanied by terrestrial plant mortality, seagrass and kelp loss, population crash of an endangered terrestrial bird species [Carnabys black cockatoo], plummeting breeding success in marine penguins, and outbreaks of terrestrial wood-boring insects.

A spectacled flying fox that died in the November 2018 heat wave in Australia. Marc McCormack/EPA

This cascade of events led the team of researchers to conclude that the extent of ecological vulnerability to projected increases in heat waves is underestimated.

Other recent events show the disparate impacts of extreme heat. In November 2018, the temperature in northern Australia soared to 107 degrees and stayed there for days. Endangered spectacled flying foxes 2-pound animals with 5-foot wing spans were overwhelmed. They tried to cool off by fanning themselves with their wings and panting, but that fell far short. In the end, some 23,000 of the endangered animals fell out of trees and died. The heat also killed fish, wild horses, and camels.

In 2014, an Australian heat wave killed more than 45,000 bats of various species. In some places fire trucks were deployed to spray and cool off dying bats.

Last month, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicted that this year would bring the third major coral bleaching event to the Great Barrier Reef in five years because of heat waves. Coral bleaching occurs when high sea temperatures cause the living corals to expel the symbiotic algae on which the corals depend.

Research on impacts to the natural world from increasing temperatures is still in its early stages. But David Breshears a University of Arizona professor of ecology and an expert in forests and climate change, is deeply worried. First you get drought, on top of that the average temperature is going up, and on top of that a heatwave occurs, said Breshears, who co-authored the 2018 heat wave paper. Do extremes matter? You better believe they do, and its scary and getting scarier.

Extreme temperatures as opposed to warmer average temperatures are the catalyst for a growing number of local extinctions, experts say. A recent study looked at 538 plant and animal species at 581 sites around the world that had been previously surveyed. The goal was to understand what aspect of climate change was the most serious threat to biodiversity. Researchers found that 44 percent of the species at the sites had gone locally extinct, and that the culprit was an increase in the temperature of the hottest days of the year.

John J. Wiens, an evolutionary ecologist at the University of Arizona and a co-author of that study, said this research creates a model that allows scientists to estimate at what temperatures species around the world will not be able to take the heat anymore. We can estimate the global extinction for each species, he said. He estimated that if there is moderate global warming, 16 percent of all species would be lost; if theres more severe warming, 30 percent could be lost. The big picture is that one in three species could go extinct over the next 50 years, Wiens said.

Part of what dictates whether species will survive is their physiology and habits. Birds pant to cool off, exhaling air and water. The hotter they get, the more water they need to expel. The mourning dove, for example, requires 10 to 30 percent more water to keep cool than it did a century ago, according to the Grinnell Resurvey Project.

A dead tree in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest during the September 2010 drought. NASA/JPL-Caltech

Insect or animal-eating birds, which get their water from their prey, are even worse off. The Mojave Desert study found that if water needs increase by 30 percent, larger birds need to catch 60 to 70 bugs more per day to satisfy their water needs, which has an energetic cost. Thats why avian carnivores in the desert including the kestrel, prairie falcon and turkey vulture have declined along with insectivores such as gnatcatchers and mountain chickadees. All told, the increasing need for water has led to a 43 percent decline in species richness, the Grinnell Resurvey Project concluded.

Birds suffer more than other animals. They have high exposure to climate change, said Riddell. They are diurnal and exposed to the hottest part of the day. Small mammals live underground and are generally nocturnal. Insects are small and can take advantage of smaller habitat niches.

If current trends continue, well see more declines in the desert birds, Riddell said. Even desert specialists are struggling to live in this environment that they are supposedly well adapted for.

Some insects in some places have taken a heat hit as well. A recent study found that the number of areas that native bumblebees occupy has plummeted 46 percent in North America and 17 percent in Europe compared to surveys taken from 1901 to 1974. Those bee-less areas were also places with a high degree of climate variation, especially higher temperatures. Climate change is related to the growing extinction risk that animals are facing around the world, lead author Peter Soroye said, because of hotter and more frequent extremes in temperatures.

At the same time, an increase in temperatures is also expected to boost some insect populations including those that eat crops. A 2018 study predicted that could have a serious detrimental impact on world food supplies. Warmer temperatures increase insect metabolic rates exponentially, said Chris Deutsch, a professor of oceanography at the University of Washington, who led the team. Second, with the exception of the tropics, warmer temperatures will increase the reproductive rates of insects. You have more insects and theyre eating more.

Warmer temperatures are already causing major damage to the worlds forests. As temperatures warm, trees become less resilient and die-offs become more frequent as much as five times more so. If the climate warms a little more, things dont get a little different, they get very different, said Henry Adams, a plant biologist at Oklahoma State University and co-author of a recent paper on the topic. You get an acceleration in the rate of mortality. As you crank up the heat, the time it takes to kill trees is less and less.

Warmer temperatures, in other words, make droughts more deadly.

And there is concern that warmer temperatures will also keep burned forests from re-growing and that those ecosystems will instead transform into grasslands or shrub ecosystems.

Part of the reason is that, in the American West, fires are becoming bigger and hotter and more frequent, which kills the mother trees needed to drop seeds and regenerate the forest. Extreme heat then reduces seedling survival. The hotter, drier climate is making it more difficult for trees to regenerate on sites to which a lot of these conifers were suited, said Craig Allen, a research ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in New Mexico. Parts of the landscape are becoming less available to regrowth.

Native bumblebee species, such as the Bombus impatiens, have declined 46 percent in North America. Courtesy of Antoine Morin

This trend is especially important because forests are a significant carbon sink. For 30 years, nearly 100 institutions studied 565 tropical forests in Africa and the Amazon to understand their role in taking up and sequestering atmospheric carbon dioxide, which helps mitigate climate warming.

What they found, in a paper published this month in the journal Nature, is that the uptake of CO2 in these forests peaked in the 1990s. By 2010, their ability to take up carbon had dropped by a third.

As warming alters Alaska, can a key wildlife refuge adapt? Read more.

The cause was the growing number of dead trees in these forests, which were killed by higher temperatures, according to Wannes Hubau, who worked on the project as a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Leeds and who now works with the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Belgium.

Our modeling of these factors shows a long-term future decline in the African [carbon] sink, said Hubau, and that the Amazonian sink will continue to rapidly weaken, which we predict to become a carbon source in the mid-2030s.

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With Temperatures Rising, Can Animals Survive the Heat Stress? - Yale Environment 360

Neuroscience

Immersion Neuroscience Index Reveals the Public Craves Direction From Its Elected Leaders, Not Celebrities, During a Crisis – Yahoo Finance

Immersion Neuroscience, the worlds most advanced predictive software company unlocking neuroscience to measure what people love, announced today a new Immersion Index revealing people's reaction to celebrities vs. elected officials communications about the current COVID-19 pandemic.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200319005599/en/

Immersion Neuroscience Index Reveals the Public Craves Direction from its Elected Leaders, not Celebrities, During a Crisis (Graphic: Business Wire)

Immersion researched the most effective way to share information with the public about coronavirus. This new study compares celebrities and their social media messages with elected officials.

"The best way to determine if communication is effective is to measure how well it "sticks" in the brain. Science has established that when the brain is immersed in information, it is remembered, shared with others, and acted on. Highly immersive information is what will reduce the spread of the coronavirus and save lives," said Dr. Paul J. Zak, Founder of Immersion.

The research study: Immersion asked participants to turn on their Apple watches or other wearable sensors and emailed them six videos to view online. The videos ran for one-and-a-half to two minutes and featured President Trump; Vice President Pence, who leads the White House Coronavirus Task Force; Dr. Anthony Fauci, who leads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and is a member of the Coronavirus Task Force; Georgia Governor Brian Kemp; singer Cardi B; and actor and former governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger, all speaking about the coronavirus outbreak.

The study revealed that communication about coronavirus by government leaders is significantly more effective than a celebrity rant or an offbeat video with miniature horses, for example.

The Immersion platform aggregated neurologic responses and returned an average Immersion value from 1-10 for each video.

Immersion Index results for communication effectiveness are:

Vice President Pence generated neurologic immersion that was 48% higher than the next most immersive speakers, a tie between President Trump and Governor Kemp. Dr. Fauci was a close third at 53% less immersive, while Arnold and Cardi B were at the bottom of the list at 61% and 64% less immersive than Mr. Pence.

The results show that fact-based videos from elected officials delivered without theatrics were significantly more immersive, meaning these are more likely to motivate actions by citizens.

"We salute celebrities for reminding the public to be safe. But, when times are tough, this study shows that brains know that experts provide the most valuable information. If you ask people which videos they "like" or find "entertaining," they will choose the stars over the experts. Extensive research has shown that "liking" has no relationship to what people do. In this time of crisis, action is what matters. That is why measuring neurologic immersion is so important," said Immersion CEO Scott Brown.

Fifteen years of peer-reviewed research has proven that when the brain produces a specific set of unconscious responses called "immersion," it identifies an experience as valuable.

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Immersions proprietary solution and software is the world's most accurate way to measure the brain's unconscious emotional responses to virtually any type of content whether its video, music, live events, training, educational resources and more. Developed by distinguished research scientists, Immersions simple-to-use and scalable predictive SaaS platform democratizes neuroscience so that anyone can measure what people love at scale.

The Immersion platform is unique in its ability to perform distributed neuroscience, which becomes essential at a time when the world is sheltering in place. Immersion measures brain responses anyplace that people are using a mobile app that sends data to cloud servers. Algorithms developed by Immersion scientists infer brain activity from a small wearable sensor.

To learn more about Immersion, visit http://www.getimmersion.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200319005599/en/

Contacts

Andrew LaszacsBob Gold & Associates 310-320-2010immersion@bobgoldpr.com

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Immersion Neuroscience Index Reveals the Public Craves Direction From Its Elected Leaders, Not Celebrities, During a Crisis - Yahoo Finance

Neuroscience

The Neuroscience of Respect Discredits Toxic Leadership Culture in the US – CEOWORLD magazine

There is a common misconception among corporate leaders that the most effective method to enact change is through tough leadership, ultimatums, and punishment for bad behavior.

A new nonprofit recently launched with a singular mission in mind: to challenge this corporate culture and educate leaders on the benefits of respectful leadership. The Center for Respectful Leadership was founded by Gregg Ward, an established leadership expert and bestselling author.

Neuroscience of Respect

Despite our best efforts to run completely on logic, especially in the workplace, humans are still ruled by emotions. Workplaces and boardrooms are full of emotional beings that are expected to keep their emotions in check while on the clock.

All humans still have a reactive, reptilian brain, and disrespect in the workplace can wreak havoc on employee productivity, and company culture. A Gallup study showed that positively engaged or connected companies perform better than their competitors.

Gregg Ward explains further, Its imperative for leaders to understand that culture eats strategy for breakfast, and if they tolerate or contribute to a toxic work environment, no matter how brilliant the product or idea, the chances of overall success are significantly reduced.

How Emotional Intelligence Can Help Leaders

Rigid standards and norms about professionalism have built a corporate culture in America that completely ignores the ever-present emotions of the human beings it employs.

Gregg Ward has dedicated his career to educating leaders on leveraging and sharpening their emotional intelligence to better manage teams. The Center for Respectful Leadership is a group of experts dedicated to building a better business community through experiential learning programs.

By learning and applying emotional intelligence and basic empathy to the corporate culture, leaders will not only find they are more effective but also that their team is more productive.

Ward warns, As a nation, were at a crossroads right now: do we go all in on disrespecting each other more and more and more, or do we find a way to step back from the cliff and potentially help our fellow Americans to step back too?

Unique Training Opportunities

With live theatre training, HR and C-level executives learn how to navigate confrontational and uncomfortable social interactions in the workplace.

The results are therapeutic and help leadership to turn around struggling and toxic corporate cultures. The theater format provides a safe place to practice tough conversations and make mistakes without jeopardizing professional relationships.

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The Neuroscience of Respect Discredits Toxic Leadership Culture in the US - CEOWORLD magazine

Neuroscience

BioXcel Therapeutics Provides an Update on its Ongoing Phase 3 SERENITY Trials – BioSpace

NEW HAVEN, Conn., March 19, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BioXcel Therapeutics, Inc. (BTI or Company) (Nasdaq: BTAI), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company utilizing artificial intelligence to identify improved therapies in neuroscience and immuno-oncology, today announced that more than one-third of the patients in the Phase 3 SERENITY trials have been enrolled and treated. To date, the company has not observed a change in enrollment rates resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, and currently maintains previous guidance that SERENITY I & II are expected to be completed by mid-year 2020.

Despite the current situation with COVID-19, we remain on track with the enrollment of our SERENITY studies, stated Vimal Mehta, Chief Executive Officer of BTI. Up to now, all schizophrenia and bipolar patients enrolled have successfully self-administered the BXCL501 treatment, guided by a healthcare provider, and the trials seem to be progressing well. We are optimistic that enrollment rates will continue to stay consistent with previous weeks and are looking forward to sharing topline results in the middle of this year.

The SERENITY studies are randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled, adaptive trials of up to 750 patients, 18 to 75 years of age. SERENITY I is enrolling patients with agitation associated with schizophrenia, with each arm receiving BXCL501 at 120 micrograms, 180 micrograms or placebo, respectively. SERENITY II is evaluating patients with agitation associated with bipolar disorder, also in three arms receiving BXCL501 at 120 micrograms, 180 micrograms or placebo, respectively. The primary endpoint of the trials is reducing acute agitation measured by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, examining the Excited Component (PEC) change from baseline compared to placebo. A key secondary endpoint includes determining the earliest time where an effect on agitation is apparent as measured by the change from baseline in PEC total score.

About Agitation in Neuropsychology

Agitation is a common and difficult to manage symptom associated with a number of psychiatric conditions, including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. It is estimated that approximately 19 million people are at risk of agitation, and 8.3 million in the U.S. suffer from agitation each year, costing approximately $40 billion annually in treatment related expenses. Early identification and prompt intervention to relieve agitation are essential to avoid symptomatic escalation and emergence of aggression. Recent consensus guidelines emphasize the need for non-coercive management strategies to protect the therapeutic alliance between patients and their healthcare providersan alliance that is critical for the effective management of chronic psychiatric conditions. A non-invasive therapy that causes rapid symptom relief and de-escalates agitation may be necessary to avoid the costly and traumatic use of coercive techniques, like physical restraint and seclusion, which require admission and prolonged hospitalization.

About BXCL501

BXCL501 is an investigational proprietary sublingual thin film of dexmedetomidine, a selective alpha-2a receptor agonist for the treatment of acute agitation. BTI believes that BXCL501 directly targets a causal agitation mechanism, and the Company has observed anti-agitation effects in multiple clinical studies across multiple neuropsychiatric indications. BXCL501 has been granted Fast Track Designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the acute treatment of agitation.

A Phase 1b safety and efficacy study of BXCL501 in patients with schizophrenia yielded positive dose-response data. BXCL501 is being evaluated in the SERENITY program, consisting of two Phase 3 studies for the acute treatment of agitation in patients with schizophrenia (SERENITY I) and bipolar disorder (SERENITY II). BXCL501 is also being evaluated in a Phase 1b/2 trial (TRANQUILITY) for the treatment of agitation associated with dementia, and the Company is preparing to initiate a Phase 1b/2 study (RELEASE) of BXCL501 for the treatment of opioid withdrawal symptoms.

About BioXcel Therapeutics, Inc.:

BioXcel Therapeutics, Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company utilizing artificial intelligence to identify improved therapies in neuroscience and immuno-oncology. BTI's drug re-innovation approach leverages existing approved drugs and/or clinically evaluated product candidates together with big data and proprietary machine learning algorithms to identify new therapeutic indices. BTI's two most advanced clinical development programs are BXCL501, an investigational sublingual thin film formulation in development for acute treatment of agitation resulting from neuropsychiatric disorders, and BXCL701, an investigational orally administered systemic innate immunity activator in development for treatment of a rare form of prostate cancer and for treatment of pancreatic cancer in combination with other immuno-oncology agents. For more information, please visit http://www.bioxceltherapeutics.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements in this press release include but are not limited to the enrollment of patients in the Phase 3 SERENITY trials and the timing of topline data from these trials. When used herein, words including anticipate, being, will, plan, may, continue, and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. In addition, any statements or information that refer to expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, performance or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking. All forward-looking statements are based upon BTI's current expectations and various assumptions. BTI believes there is a reasonable basis for its expectations and beliefs, but they are inherently uncertain.

BTI may not realize its expectations, and its beliefs may not prove correct. Actual results could differ materially from those described or implied by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including, without limitation, its limited operating history; its incurrence of significant losses; its need for substantial additional funding and ability to raise capital when needed; its limited experience in drug discovery and drug development; its dependence on the success and commercialization of BXCL501 and BXCL701 and other product candidates; the failure of preliminary data from its clinical studies to predict final study results; failure of its early clinical studies or preclinical studies to predict future clinical studies; its ability to receive regulatory approval for its product candidates; its ability to enroll patients in its clinical trials; its approach to the discovery and development of product candidates based on EvolverAI is novel and unproven; its exposure to patent infringement lawsuits; its ability to comply with the extensive regulations applicable to it; its ability to commercialize its product candidates; and the other important factors discussed under the caption Risk Factors in its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019, as such factors may be updated from time to time in its other filings with the SEC, which are accessible on the SECs website at http://www.sec.gov.

These and other important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements made in this press release. Any such forward-looking statements represent managements estimates as of the date of this press release. While BTI may elect to update such forward-looking statements at some point in the future, except as required by law, it disclaims any obligation to do so, even if subsequent events cause our views to change. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing BTIs views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.

Contact Information:

BioXcel Therapeutics, Inc.www.bioxceltherapeutics.com

Investor Relations:John Grazianojgraziano@troutgroup.com1.646.378.2942

Media:Julia Deutschjdeutsch@troutgroup.com1.646.378.2967

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BioXcel Therapeutics Provides an Update on its Ongoing Phase 3 SERENITY Trials - BioSpace

Neuroscience

How to protect your mental health during the coronavirus pandemic – London Post

The coronavirus pandemic is creating stress in the global population. Empty store shelves, fear about the disease and quarantine or self-isolation can negatively impact depression and anxiety. The mental health implications of the pandemic will impact everyone differently, and clinical psychologists at Flow Neuroscience have offered a guide to support and manage ones mental health and those of others during these times.

Global concern about coronavirus means its very important to keep the normal routine as much as possible when it comes to sleep, nutrition and exercise, particularly in people with existing mental health problems, says Daniel Mansson, clinical psychologist and co-founder of Flow Neuroscience. In the current situation, finding ways to maintain your normal routine is essential to reducing stress and potential depressive thoughts that may appear.

First things first filter news and social media

The constant news about the pandemic can feel relentless and may exacerbate existing mental health problems. Be careful about the balance of watching important news and the news that could cause you to feel depressed. Seek trusted information, such as the NHS website, at specific times to take practical steps to protect yourself and loved ones. Have breaks from social media and mute triggering keywords and accounts.

Talk openly

Some people might feel that talking about their depression and anxiety requires no additional attention during these unprecedented times. People should be encouraged to talk about their feelings. Various support helplines are available, including Samaritans, as well as mental health crisis services, details of which can be found via the mental health charity Mind.

Eat an anti-depression diet

Anxiety is likely to increase during the current crisis, but a well-nourished body is better at handling stress. Traditional Mediterranean food, sometimes referred to as the anti-depression diet, for its anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, includes whole grains, vegetables (particularly green leaves), fruit, berries, nuts (including almonds), seeds and olive oil. The Flow app, free to download on iOS and Android, can help people to improve their nutrition and reduce the risk of depression at home.

Get therapeutic sleep

90% of depressed people struggle with sleep, which is likely to increase with fears over coronavirus. Good quality sleep is a form of overnight therapy, and increases the chance of handling strong emotions. Try to wake up and go to bed at the same time every day. Achieving 8 hours of sleep, taking a hot bath, setting the bedroom temperature to 18 degrees and having no screen time 2 hours before bedtime will also help.

Exercise as depression treatment

With months of the coronavirus pandemic ahead, it is important to keep exercising. Clinical studies show that regular exercise produces chemicals, such as dopamine and serotonin, which are as effective as antidepressant medication or psychotherapy for treating milder depression. Most people will not have access to a gym during the crisis, so it is important to create a daily exercise routine at home. Experts recommend between 30-40 minutes of exercise, 3-4 times a week to work up a sweat. People with depression often struggle with exercise, so start small with a 10 minute walk, then add a few minutes daily.

Home treatment for depression with brain stimulation

If you are suffering from clinical depression, it is important to contact your doctor or psychologist should your symptoms worsen.

As the coronavirus epidemic approaches though, many NHS services will be strained to cope with the demand to save lives. A modern drug-free treatment for depression, which does not require NHS services, is available in the UK since June of 2019.

Created by Flow Neuroscience, the brain stimulation headset is the only one in the EU to be medically approved as a home treatment for depression. The headset uses tDCS, a type of brain stimulation which is now listed as a treatment for depression on the NHS website. Clinical studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine and the British Journal of Psychiatry showed that the type of tDCS brain stimulation used in the Flow headset had a similar impact to antidepressants

Excerpt from:
How to protect your mental health during the coronavirus pandemic - London Post

Neuroscience

Hooked to books? These happy reads are the best choice in the time of social distancing – YourStory

As the world rallies together to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, the International Day of Happiness - observed on March 20 - reminds us that staying optimistic, happy, and maintaining mental well-being is the need of the hour.

Remember the slew of memes on Happiness is? Well, its true for every individual. The word happiness can have any meaning some may find it in playing with a dog, taking a long nap, enjoying the rain, spending time in nature, drinking a cold glass of lassi on a summer day...the list goes on.

International Happiness Day is usually the day when the United Nations calls upon nations to approach public policies in ways that can improve the well-being of citizens. It is believed that to attain global happiness, economic development must be accompanied by social and environmental well-being.

As we focus on social distancing this week to shut down coronavirus, YS Weekender has curated a list of Happy Reads for you.

So, grab a cup of coffee, get cosy in your bed or sofa, and enjoy these books on motivation, happiness, and self-help.

The Happiness Project book was a year-long project, carried out by lawyer-turned-author, Gretchen Rubin.

Gretchen decided to dedicate a year to happiness, and The Happiness Project was the result. Published in 2009 and having spent close to two years on the New York Times bestsellers list, the book chronicles Gretchens adventures during the twelve months she spent test-driving the wisdom of the ages, current scientific research, and lessons from popular culture about how to be happier.

Photo Credits: Goodreads

During her journey, she made many discoveries novelty and challenge are powerful sources of happiness. She discovered that money can help buy happiness when spent wisely, outer order contributes to inner calm, and the very smallest of changes can make the biggest difference.

On her website, Gretchen says that her book has turned to a movement where people are creating groups to discuss their Happiness project with each other, and many professors, psychiatrists, and clergy have recommended her book in various book clubs.

Authored by renowned Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert, Stumbling on Happiness describes the shortcomings of imagination and illusions of foresight that causes people to misconceive their future and misestimate their satisfactions.

Photo Credits: Goodreads

With powerful insights, the New York Times bestseller book explains why we seem to know so little about the hearts and minds of the people we are about to become.

After experiencing a terrible panic attack on live television on Good Morning America, news anchor Dan Harris embarked on an unexpected journey through the worlds of spirituality and self-help, and discovered a way to become happier in the true sense.

Photo Credits: Goodreads

10% Happier delves in the outer reaches of neuroscience to the inner sanctum of network news to the bizarre fringes of Americas spiritual scene, and leaves you with a takeaway that could actually change your life.

For long now, Denmark has been regarded as the happiest country in the world. And hygge is the reason for it.

Photo Credits: Romireads

In this New York Times bestseller, The Little Book of Hygge, Meik helps you be more hygge: from picking the right lighting and planning a dinner party through to creating an emergency hygge kit and even how to dress.

Meik is the CEO of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen, and has said that hygge is the magic ingredient that makes Danes the happiest nation in the world.

Author Russ Harris in his book, The Happiness Trap: Stop Struggling, Start Living, explains the way most people go about trying to find happiness, and end up making themselves miserable, driving the epidemics of stress, anxiety, and depression.

The empowering book showcases the insights and techniques of ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy), a revolutionary new psychotherapy based on cutting-edge research in behavioural psychology.

Photo Credits: Goodreads

By clarifying your values and developing mindfulness, ACT helps you escape the happiness trap and find true satisfaction in life, the author says.

He presents the following techniques to help readers:

Reduce stress and worry

Handle painful feelings and thoughts more effectively

Break self-defeating habits

Overcome insecurity and self-doubt

Create a rich, full, and meaningful life

Spiritual leader The Dalai Lama dedicated all his life to peace-keeping. A Nobel Prize winner will tell you that happiness is the purpose of life, and that "the very motion of our life is towards happiness."

Photo Credits: Goodreads

Through conversations, stories, and meditation, he explores the many facets of everyday life, including relationships, loss, and the pursuit of wealth, to illustrate how to ride through life's obstacles with a deep and abiding source of inner peace.

(Edited by Asha Chowdary)

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Hooked to books? These happy reads are the best choice in the time of social distancing - YourStory

Neuroscience

Researchers find key molecule that helps neurons maintain information in working memory – The Medical News

Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.Mar 19 2020

Working memory, the ability to hold a thought in mind even through distraction, is the foundation of abstract reasoning and a defining characteristic of the human brain. It is also impaired in disorders such as schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease.

Now Yale researchers have found a key molecule that helps neurons maintain information in working memory, which could lead to potential treatments for neurocognitive disorders, they report March 19 in the journal Neuron.

Working memory arises from neuronal circuits in the prefrontal cortex. We have been learning that these circuits have special molecular maintenance requirements."

Min Wang, senior research scientist in neuroscience, Yale University

Neurons in the prefrontal cortex excite each other to keep information "in mind." These circuits act as a sort of mental sketch pad, allowing us to remember that caramelized onions are cooking in the frying pan while we search the next room for a pair of scissors.

The new study shows that these prefrontal cortical circuits depend upon the neurotransmitter acetylcholine stimulating muscarinic M1 receptors aligned on the surface of neurons of the prefrontal cortex. Blocking muscarinic M1 receptors reduced the firing of neurons involved in working memory, while activating the M1 receptors helped restore neuronal firing. Because acetylcholine actions at M1 receptors are reduced in schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease, the M1 receptor may serve as a potential therapeutic target, the authors suggest.

Wang notes that a drug currently under development for the treatment of schizophrenia stimulates this M1 receptor and has shown promise in early clinical trials.

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Researchers find key molecule that helps neurons maintain information in working memory - The Medical News