Tag Archives: environment

Embryology

Why Brexit could jump start UK GMO, CRISPR researchonce stifled by ‘dead hand’ of EU regulation – Genetic Literacy Project

Britain is really good at biology. In physics and chemistry, or painting and music, we have often failed to match the Germans, the French or the Italians. But in the bio-sciences, nobody can equal us. Heres an astonishing list of firsts that happened on this damp island: William Harvey and the circulation of the blood. Robert Hooke and the cell. Edward Jenner and vaccines. Charles Darwin and natural selection. Alexander Fleming and antibiotics. Francis Crick and James Watson (and Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins) and the structure of DNA. Fred Sanger and DNA sequencing. Patrick Steptoe and Robert Edwards and the first test-tube baby. Alec Jeffreys and DNA fingerprinting. Ian Wilmut and Dolly the Sheep. The biggest single contribution to the sequencing of the human genome (the Wellcome Trust).

Annoyingly, the exciting new tool of genome editing is the one that got away. The best of the new tools, known as CRISPR, emerged from the work of a Spaniard, Francisco Mojica, who first spotted some odd sequences in a microbes genome that seemed to be part of a toolkit for defeating viruses. Then a few years ago French, American, Finnish, Dutch and Chinese scientists turned this insight into a device for neatly snipping out specific sequences of DNA from a genome in any species, opening up the prospect of neatly rewriting DNA to prevent disease or alter crops. Two American universities are squabbling over the patents (and Nobel prize hopes). Further improvements are coming thick and fast.

But we are well placed to catch up with superb labs straining at the leash to apply these new tools. The biggest immediate opportunity is in agriculture, and here leaving the European Union is absolutely key. There is no clearer case of a technology in which we will be held back if we do not break free from the EU approach. It would not be a race to the bottom in terms of safety and environmental standards, but the very opposite: a race to the top.

For example, if we allowed the genetically modified blight-resistant potatoes that have been developed at the Sainsbury Laboratory in Norfolk to be grown in fields here in the UK, we would be able to greatly reduce the spraying of fungicides on potato fields, which at present happens up to 15 times a year, harming biodiversity and causing lots of emissions from tractors. That would be a big improvement, not a regression, in environmental terms. But at the moment commercializing the Sainsbury Lab potato is in practice impossible because of onerous EU rules.

Other countries are already dashing ahead with the new technology. Last year a review of the patenting of CRISPR products in agriculture found that, whereas America had taken out 872 patent families and China 858, the European Union had taken out only 194. The gap is growing.

The reason is nothing to do with the quality of research in Europe. It is all about regulation. When genome editing first came along, the European Commission decided to delay for several years making up its mind about how to regulate the release of genome-edited organisms while it waited for the European Court of Justice to decide whether to treat this new technology as if it were like genetic modification (the process invented a generation ago for transferring genes between species) or a form of mutation breeding (the process invented two generations ago for randomly scrambling the genes of plants under gamma rays in the hopes of generating better varieties).

If it was like genetic modification, then it would be subject to draconian rules that amount to a de-facto ban. Nobody even tries to commercialize a GMO crop in Europe any more because you enter a maze of delay, obfuscation, uncertainty, expense and red tape from which you never emerge.

The result is that European agriculture is more dependent on chemical sprays than it would have otherwise been, as shown by research at Gottingen University: on average, GMOs have reduced the application of pesticides to crops wherever they have been grown by 37 per cent. So we have missed out on biological solutions and had to stick with chemical ones instead.

If on the other hand genome editing is like mutation breeding, then you can go ahead and plant a crop straight away here with no restrictions. This is, of course, mad, since mutation breeding is more likely (though still very unlikely) to produce an accidentally harmful result even than GMOs, but its an older technique and has been used for much of the food you eat, including organic food, and for some reason nobody at Greenpeace objects.

Brexit is a fantastic opportunity to do something no European continental competitor is allowed to

Genome editing is an even more precise and predictable technique than GMOs. It involves no transfer of foreign DNA and the incision is made at a specific location in a genome, not at random. It is clearly the safest of all these three techniques, and so said the European Courts advocate general in his advice to the court. But in July 2018 the ECJ, being a political entity, decided otherwise and told the commission what it wanted to hear, that it should treat genome-edited plants and animals as if they were GMOs.

There was fury and dismay throughout the laboratories of Europe. There would have been more in Britain if academics had not feared playing into the hands of Brexiteers while remaining was still a possibility. A Canadian biotech professor tweeted that this was a good day for Canada since it removed a competitor continent from the scene. The absurdity is illustrated by the fact that in some cases it is impossible to distinguish a genome-edited variety from a variety bred by hybridisation or lucky selection with the same trait. Stefan Jansson from Ume University in Sweden put it like this: Common sense and scientific logic says that it is impossible to have two identical plants where growth of one is, in reality, forbidden while the other can be grown with no restrictions; how would a court be able to decide if the cultivation was a crime or not?

Brexit therefore offers a fantastic opportunity to do something no European continental competitor is effectively allowed to do, and that will benefit the environment. We have great laboratories here, in Norwich, Nottingham, Rothamsted and Edinburgh among other places. But the private sector of plant biotechnology is all but extinct in Britain and will take some jump-starting.

Twenty years ago there were 480 full-time equivalent, PhD-level, private sector jobs in agricultural biotechnology in this country. Today there are just ten. That is what has happened to that whole sector in this country as a result of the misinformed and misguided green campaign against GMOs. Until politicians signal a sea change, the private sector will shun the UKs wonderful labs and the breakthroughs will be applied overseas, if at all.

As a new online tool called the Global Gene Editing Regulation Tracker has shown, America, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Japan and much of the rest of the world are moving towards a nimbler and more rational regulatory approach: namely judging a crop not by the method used to produce it, but by the traits it possesses. If you can make a potato resistant to blight, what matters is whether the potato is safe, not whether it was made by conventional breeding, gamma-ray mutagenesis or genome editing.

[Visit GLPs global gene-editing regulation tracker and index to learn more.]

In the EU, if you made this potato by gamma-ray mutation breeding, scrambling its DNA at random in a nuclear reactor, the regulations would say: No problem. Go ahead and plant it. If you made it by the far more precise method of genome editing, in which you know exactly what you have done and have confined your activities to one tiny bit of DNA, you are plunged into a Kafkaesque labyrinth of regulatory indecision and expense. The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee, on which I sit, recommended we switch to regulation by trait, a few years back but it was not possible before Brexit.

Genome editing can bring not just environmental benefits but animal welfare benefits too. In 2017, scientists at the Roslin Institute near Edinburgh announced that they had genome-edited pigs to protect them against a virus called porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, PRRS. They used CRISPR to cut out a short section from the pig gene that made the protein through which the virus gained access to cell. The change therefore denied the virus entry. They did this without altering the function of the protein made by the gene, so the animal grew up to be normal in every way except that it was immune to the disease.

This means less vaccination, less medication and less suffering. What is not to like? (Incredibly, when I mentioned this case in a speech in the House of Lords, a Green Party peer objected that eradicating a disease that causes suffering in pigs might be a bad thing in case it allows a change in pig husbandry techniques. Even Marie Antoinette was never quite that callous.) But commercialising that animal in the UK is currently all but impossible until we change the rules.

Genome-editing technology could revolutionize conservation as well as agriculture. Looking far ahead into much more speculative science, the same scientists at the Roslin who made the virus-resistant pigs are now looking into how to control grey squirrels not by killing them, as we do now, but by using genome editing to spread infertility infectiously through the population, so that the population slowly declines while squirrels live happily into old age.

This technique, called gene drive, could transform the practice of conservation all around the world, especially the control of invasive alien species the single greatest cause of extinction among birds and mammals today. We could eliminate the introduced mosquitos on Hawaii whose malaria is slowly exterminating the native honeycreeper birds. We could get rid of the non-native rats and goats on the Galapagos which are destroying the habitat of tortoises and birds.

We could get rid of the signal crayfish from America that have devastated many British rivers. For those who worry that gene drive might run riot, there is a simple answer: it can and will be designed in each case to last for a certain number of generations, not forever. And it will be wholly species-specific, so it cannot affect, say, the native red squirrel.

Genome editing may one day allow the de-extinction of the great auk

Still more futuristically, genome editing may one day allow the de-extinction of the great auk and the passenger pigeon. To achieve this, we need to take four steps: to sequence the DNA of an extinct species, which we have done in the case of the great auk; to edit the genome of a closely related species inthe lab, which is not yet possible but may not be far off as genome editing techniques improve by leaps and bounds; to turn a cell into an adult animal, which is difficult, but possible through primordial germ cell transfer, again pioneered at the Roslin Institute; and to train the adults for living in the wild, which is hard work but possible.

Genome editing is also going to have implications for human medicine. Here the European Union is less of a problem, and home-grown regulation is already in good shape: cautious and sensibly applied under the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority. Britain has already licensed the first laboratory experiments, at the Crick Institute, on the use of genome editing in human embryos, but this is for research into infertility, not for making designer babies.

There is universal agreement that germ-line gene editing to produce human beings with new traits must remain off-limits and be considered in future only for the elimination of severe disease, not for the enhancement of normal talents. This view is shared around the world: the Chinese rogue scientist He Jiankui, who claims he used CRISPR to make two babies HIV-resistant from birth, was sentenced to three years in prison last December.

In practice, fears about designer babies are somewhat exaggerated. The same issue comes up about once a decade with every new breakthrough in biotechnology. It was raised about artificial insemination in the 1970s, about in-vitro fertilization in the 1980s, about cloning in the 1990s and about gene sequencing in the 2000s. Indeed, it has been possible to choose or selectively implant sperm, eggs and embryos with particular genes for a long time now and yet demand remains stubbornly low.

Most people do not want to use IVF or sperm donation to have the babies of clever or athletic people, as they easily could, but to have their own babies: the technology has been used almost exclusively as a cure for infertility. Indeed, the more we find out about genomes, the harder it becomes to imagine anybody wanting to, let alone being able to, enhance specific traits in future children by fiddling with genes: there are just too many genes, each with only very small effects, interacting with each other in the creation of any particular behaviour or ability.

Imagine walking into a doctors clinic and being presented with a catalogue of expensive genetic changes that could be made to your future babys genes, each of which might have a tiny and uncertain effect. The truth is most people do not want to have especially clever or sporty offspring: they want children like themselves.

However, in contrast to germ-line gene editing, somatic genome editing will play a large part in medicine. It is already happening, for example in a process known as CAR-T cell therapy, in which an immune cell is genome-edited so that it will attack a specific tumour, then multiplied and injected back into the body as a form of live drug. If we encourage genome editing in Britain we will be in a position to cure some cancers, enhance agricultural yield, improve the nutrient quality of food, protect crops from pests without using chemicals, eradicate animal diseases, enhance animal welfare, encourage biodiversity and maybe bring back the red squirrel. If we do not, then China, America, Japan and Argentina will still push ahead with this technology and will follow their own priorities, leaving us as supplicants to get the technology second-hand.

Matt Ridley is a British journalist and businessman. He is the author of several books, including The Red Queen (1994), Genome (1999), The Rational Optimist (2010) and The Evolution of Everything (2015). Follow him on Twitter @mattwridley

This article originally ran at The Critic and has been republished here with permission.

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Why Brexit could jump start UK GMO, CRISPR researchonce stifled by 'dead hand' of EU regulation - Genetic Literacy Project

Physiology

Around the House: In praise of more human-friendly lighting – Ottawa Citizen

Each Shaws sink bears the name of the artisan who poured, shaped, and glazed it. Supplied

If you were to shrink human evolution into 24 hours, artificial light would have existed for a mere seven seconds. Having been around for such a relatively short time, its had an out-sized effect on the way people work, play, and sleep.

British neuroscientist Dr. Karen Dawe concedes that while there have been enormous benefits from artificial light, it can be hard on humans, whose behavior has been directed for millennia by the rising and setting of the sun.

Daylight changes in colour and intensity throughout the day, says Dawe, who after 17 years as a neuroscientist at Bristol University joined the lighting team at technology juggernaut Dyson in 2017. With most domestic lighting you flick a switch and it comes on at its brightness and colour temperature and it stays like that until you switch it off. Thats completely at odds with what our visual system has adapted to.

Parabola faucets in matte black make a boldly minimalist statement.Supplied

The Dyson gig, which combines research with home product development, is a good fit for Dawe, who has long been fascinated by how lifestyle and the environment affect physiology.Her brief now includes developing lighting that improves quality of life.

It starts with an understanding of the crucial role light plays in human experience, says Dawe. We care now about our air quality, where our water comes from and whats in it. But as primarily visual creatures, we consume light massively. To date, we have not really paid attention to the quality of light and what its doing to us. But the Circadian rhythms you see in everything algae, bacteria, funguses are fundamental drivers of our existence

The material Victoria + Albert freestanding tubs are made with has high insulation properties, so water stays warmer longer.Supplied

Dawes contribution to more human-friendly light came as part of a team that created Dysons Lightcycle Morph, the second iteration of a light fixture that tracks natural daylight, intelligently transforms it for the users task, age, mood, and local daylight, and continually adjusts colour temperature and brightness.

How does it do that? The short answer is that by using data from over a million atmospheric measurements of light conditions in the earths atmosphere at different times of day, a 32-bit microcontroller continually interprets and communicates data to a very sensitive optical driver.

There are pre-set study, relax, precision, boost, wake-up, and sleep modes, and users can assign up to 20 custom settings. Recognizing, for example, that a 65-year-old needs up to four times more light than a 20-year-old, the light also corrects brightness based on the age entered into the app. Its also designed to reduce the flicker that can cause eye strain and fatigue. Dimming and colour temp can be controlled manually, and the unit has a USB-C charger for phones and tablets.

The fixture uses three warm and three cool LEDs. To solve the overheating often associated with them, a heat-pipe technology that draws heat away from LEDs using a bead of water was devised. According to Dyson, that means light quality will last unchanged last 60 years.

Theres space in the Canadian market for a strong luxury brand, says Sarah Nyugen.Supplied

The optical head rotates 360 degrees, so light can be bounced off walls, floors and ceilings, or above a favourite piece of art.

A colour-warming orange filter can reduce colour temperature low enough to simulate the glow of candlelight. Thats exactly what is most sympathetic to your body clock at night a warmer, dimmer light, says Dawe.

The Lightcycle Morph is available at Dyson Demo stores in Toronto and Vancouver and on DysonCanada.ca. Desk lights start at $850. Black/Black and White/Silver finish combinations are available.

Dawe believes thoughtfully-designed lighting can not only improve visual health, but enhance physical and mental well-being. When I was studying biology, you learned about each system separately, she says. More recently, people realize that the human body doesnt actually respect those divisions that these systems all interact, all the time.

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Around the House: In praise of more human-friendly lighting - Ottawa Citizen

Human Behavior

Inside One of the Service Industrys Riskiest Jobs During the Coronavirus Crisis – Texas Monthly

On a recent Saturday night, Goldie, an exotic dancer at a club in west Houston, searched a showroom for lonely men with cash to burn.

Like many veteran dancers, experience has made the charming 25-year-old a keen observer of human behavior, someone who notices everything from customers clothes, facial hair, and mannerisms to how much they tip the bartender, who they came with, and how drunk they are.

But on this night, as she peered through the flicker of brightly colored strobe lights, Goldie was not just looking for big spendersshe was looking for big spenders with high-functioning respiratory systems.

If I see you coughing or sneezing or it looks like you have respiratory problems, theres no way Im coming over to you, she said. Some of the dancers might play it off and pretend theyre not worried about coronavirus, but everyone is worried.

As a dancer, youre putting your body at risk to make money, she added, and a lot of the girls have kids at home.

There are good reasons for women like Goldiewho can spend hours each day closely talking to and being touched by strangersto be on edge now, according to experts.

This weekend, major cities across the country began to shut down nightlife, forcing business owners to shutter restaurants, bars, and clubs entirely or restrict their hours of operation. The sweeping changes arrived as the White House began urging the public to suspend gatherings of more than ten people for the next fifteen days, a last ditch effort to slow the spread of COVID-19 using a drastic and largely unprecedented policy: social distancing.

By essentially blacklisting any activity that requires human-to-human contact, social distancing policies are already affecting small businesses and harming service workerswaiters, yogis, hairdresserswho often rely on tips to earn a living. But in Houstonwhere most businesses remain open and strip club parking lots were full of cars this weekendyou wouldnt necessarily know it.

The greater Houston area already has twenty-five confirmed cases of COVID-19 and, last week, mayor Sylvester Turner placed the city under an emergency health declaration. Schools are closing, major events are being shut down, and local health officials are warning the public to avoid crowds and maintain safe distance from strangers. But, among service industry workers, there is perhaps no still sanctioned activity more fraught with risk than stripping, which involves close physical contact with dozens of different people a night.

Clubs in other major cities, like New York and Las Vegas, are beginning to publicize their precautions. But in the Houston area, health officials have downplayed the notion that adult clubs present a public hazard during a pandemic.

Reached by email last week, Scott Packard, a spokesman for the Houston Health Department, said he couldnt say for certain that the agencys guidance had trickled down to adult entertainment establishments. But, he added, there is no reason to believe the risk of COVID-19 transmission is high at any Houston businesses.

A sprawling, industrial metropolis Houston, by some counts, is home to more strip clubs than anywhere in the nation, a feature of the citys nightlife that lures tourists from across the globe. But anyone whos visited Houstons strip clubs knows theyre not ordinary businessestheyre destinations. Many clubs are office-building-size complexes that employ hundreds of dancers. With the second largest petrochemical complex in the world and a port with the largest amount of foreign waterborne tonnage in the United States, the city is home to a massive foreign and domestic workforce that provides adult nightclubs with an endless stream of customers.

Fort Bend County and Harris County health officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The international pull is just one reason that dancers say they know theyre at risk. Its not uncommon, they say, for a single woman to perform dozens of dances each night, coming into close physical contact with each customer they encounter. The same women will often handle hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars in cash at a time when some governments are burning banknotes to stop the spread of the coronavirus and Harris County toll roads have stopped accepting cash.

The virus may enter the body through the mouth and nose, experts say, but another vehicle of transmission is typically the hands, which are rarely idle when dancers and customers interact. People in confined gatherings indoors are especially at risk, according to Dr. Shelley Payne, a professor of molecular biosciences and the interim director of UTAustins LaMontagne Center for Infectious Disease.

The closer the contact the higher the risk, explained Payne. Very close contact, or even close breathing, presents a risk because this is a respiratory pathogen. When people talk, small droplets containing the virus are emitted into the environment. If youre in very close physical contact youre going to breathe them in or get those particles on your hands and spread them to your face.

In that kind of environment, Payne added, referring to clubs with lots of physical interaction, its going to be very difficult to prevent transmission if the virus is present.

At five different clubs across Houston, dancersmany of whom said they were closely following news reportssaid their managers had offered little guidance and taken almost no preventive measures. At each club, dancers like Goldie said theyd begun carrying Lysol and keychain-size vials of hand sanitizer in their purses, which theyd begun to apply multiple times each night. Fully aware that COVID-19 is a respiratory illness, most dancers said they felt helpless to avoid it.

I just gave that guy over there a dance and he told me he just came here from Turkey, Ariel, a 23-year-old dancer at Treasures, said, pointing to a tall, middle-aged man at the bar. A lot of the guys come here from abroad. Ive been following the news and Im really nervous.

The man at the bar didnt look ill, but that doesnt reveal much, according to Payne.

The concern is you have people coming in from international areas where the virus is more prevalent than it currently is in Texas, she said. The difficult part is that they may be in the stage where theyre not yet showing symptoms, but already producing the virus and spreading it without knowing.

At the same club, a bathroom attendant who introduced himself as Larry said that for the past week hed noticed clubgoers washing their hands with much more regularity.

Guys normally run in and run out, but now theyre taking their time, he said. Thats how you know this is some serious stuff because thats never happened before.

Reached by phone, a club manager who was asked about dancers health and safety declined to comment.

Washing hands is a great start, but it doesnt mean dancers should let their guard down, according to Melissa Sontag Broudo, the codirector of the SOAR Institute, an organization that advocates for the safety and rights of sex workers. Broudo said she wasnt surprised that dancers were taking precautions to avoid COVID-19, nor was she surprised that clubs werent providing dancers with guidance.

Historically, Broudo said, sex workers have taken health and safety into their own hands. Clubs are frequently unclean and dancers are typically upcharged for anything they use in the establishment, including soap. Dancers who speak up or demand healthier working conditions can often expect to be fired.

For these types of clubs, its not health and safety or workers that are put firstits profit, she said. This is a high turnover business and dancers are not normally employees. Of course there are exceptions, but managers and club promoters and folks in the industry see dancers as relatively disposable.

If the women feel unsafe because of a viral infection, she added, its likely theyre also too afraid to say something to management.

Goldiewho holds three jobs and wants to go to law schoolcounts herself among those dancers who know their working conditions are unsafe with the coronavirus spreading, but remain too scared to talk to their manager. She needs the money to pay off hefty student loans. But if she could quit tomorrow, she said, her tired eyes brightening, bringing a swift end to the misogynistic comments and crude propositions whispered in her ear during each shift, she wouldnt hesitate.

Goldie said shes learned to manage the emotional toll of strippingits the physical one shes concerned about now.

In recent weeks, she said, late-night hours and demanding dances that she compared to a full body workout have harmed her sleep schedule and weakened her immune system.

Shes begun drinking Emergen-C packets and trying to eat more fruit between shifts, but she knows that even a perfect immune system is no match for a club full of the virus.

They need to do a deep clean, like at a restaurant, every week, even if they have to take a whole day off, she said, referring to her clubs management. Those chairs and that stage is filthy!

But at the end of the day Im at the mercy of the club owner, she added, with a sigh. They know I need the money.

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Inside One of the Service Industrys Riskiest Jobs During the Coronavirus Crisis - Texas Monthly

Human Behavior

In Maine’s 200 years, man’s impact has altered the animal landscape – Press Herald

A look at the fate of just a few animal species during the 200 years that Maine has been a state tells the larger story of how humans impact wildlife. Whether these animals have vanished, returned, arrived or thrived all have direct or indirect links to human behavior.

Keep in mind, there is also a lot we dont know. Biologists dont have all the data, Noah Perlut, chair of University of New Englands Department of Environmental Studies, pointed out. To take just one example, the breeding bird survey now conducted annually across Maine wasnt even begun until the 1960s.

On the one hand, that is a really rich data set, Perlut said. On the other hand, its nothing compared to how long weve been here. Its not ecologically relevant data.

Here is a glimpse of the fortunes of a few species that roamed the forests, meadows and skies here at the time Maine became a state.

The Departed: Caribou

Since as far back as the 1700, several mammals have been extirpated from Maine or its waters, largely because of over-hunting. They include the gray whale, the eastern cougar (now extinct, although other subspecies of cougars survive in other parts of the country), the gray wolf, the wolverine and the woodland caribou.

In the 1800s, caribou were a source of food that was readily available, said Mark McCollough, the endangered species biologist in Maine with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. So much so, in fact, that they sustained the early settlers in northern Maine. But the last recorded caribou in Maine was shot on Mt. Katahdins Tablelands in 1908, he said.

More than 50 years later, in 1963, the state attempted to reintroduce them. Biologists brought 20 caribou from nearby Newfoundland to Baxter State Park. The project failed, though biologists at the time were not certain why, McCollough said. Portland businessmen funded a similar effort in 1986. Twenty caribou from Newfoundland were taken to Orono to breed. Later, 30 were released in Baxter, this time with radio collars affixed to their necks so scientists could track and study them more closely. Once again, not a single caribou survived. All fell prey to hungry bears or to brainworm, a parasite carried by, but not affecting, white-tailed deer.

It illustrated how difficult it is to try to right some of the wrongs that happened 100 or 200 years ago, McCollough said. If the environment has changed, there are factors that we may not even be aware of, like diseases that were not present 100 years ago.

The Survivor: White-Tailed Deer

Three commonly seen mammals have persisted in Maine at least since the early settlers arrived: moose, bear and white-tailed deer. But only the last has reached extraordinary numbers. In 2019, thestatewide population was estimated between 230,000 and 250,000, according to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

They live in cities and in deep woods, McCollough said. They live alongside us and benefit from the changes we make to the environment, whether carving out backyards or forestry projects. They like a fragmented forest.

At the turn of the 1800s, when northern Maine was first settled, few deer lived there, McCollough said. Their numbers grew in the next 100 years with the advent of log drives and the arrival of forestry. Such timber practices created new tree growth, providing the deer with the low-lying branches they like to eat. Coupled with urbanization in southern Maine, which fragmented the forests, deer numbers exploded.

Whatever happens with climate change, I have no doubt that deer will still be here 200 years from now, McCollough said.

The Returnee: Peregrine Falcon

Some good news: some of the species that vanished from Maine over the last 200 years have since returned. Typically, humans played a role both in their disappearance and their revival. As hunting practices ended or were curtailed, and as pollutants and insecticides were cleaned up or banned, a few species that roamed Maine historically are repopulating the state.

The fastest bird in the world the peregrine falcon was once extirpated from Maine. The peregrine, which can fly more than 200 mph, nested in the eastern United States until the early 1960s when widespread use of the insecticide DDT pushed the birds to the brink of extinction. The federal government listed them as endangered in 1970. Although DDT was banned in 1972, the raptor is still considered endangered in Maine. Through reintroduction efforts, however, their numbers here have grown.

A total of 153 young peregrines were reintroduced in Maine between 1984 and 1997. Since 2009, Maine has been home to at least 25 nesting pairs, according to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. Efforts by the state to create nesting platforms for the birds are ongoing.

In a lot of regions of the Northeast, peregrine falcons only nested on cliffs, Perlut said. Now they are nesting on bridges and quarries and buildings. That is adding more pairs than maybe were here historically.

The Newcomer: Turkey Vulture

Probably no animal better illustrates the resiliency of a newcomer in Maine than the coyote, which migrated across the country from the western United States in the 1940s. If it can survive in New York Citys Central Park, why not Maine? And it does.

A number of other non-native species have successfully moved here, too, including two species of vultures: the turkey vulture and the black vulture. The first documented breeding pair of turkey vultures arrived in 1970; they are now widespread across the state. In the past few years, there have been reports that black vultures are breeding here, too, Perlut said.

What drew them north? One theory credits urbanization, he said. Others believe birds follow highways, for the opportunity for road kill.

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In Maine's 200 years, man's impact has altered the animal landscape - Press Herald

Human Behavior

[OPINION] The Pope and single-use plastics – Rappler

What is more urgent and effective: go big or start small?

This is one of the fundamental questions I encounter when addressing the climate crisis. Some would argue that given the need to drastically reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions within the next decade, the focus should be on pressuring authorities to implement large-scale solutions. Governments must enact policies for phasing out fossil fuels, especially coal, while corporations need to either stop funding environmentally-destructive projects or implement a just transition towards renewable energy development.

While these measures are obviously effective in mitigating and adapting to climate change, the value of the small-scale actions can never be discredited. These actions help create a precautionary culture wherein caring for the planet becomes a habit instead of an incentive, an initiative rather than a reaction. An educated, enabled, and empowered citizenry is also vital for exerting pressure on governments and corporations to instigate shifts in political and socioeconomic models to deal with the climate crisis.

The importance of behavioral change to stop climate change is evident, whether you look at it through a scientific or religious lens.

The religious lens

Pope Franciss encyclical "Laudato Si" is known as a landmark document of the Roman Catholic Church for directly addressing the climate crisis and environmental degradation. Yet at its core, it points to one undeniable fact: that human behavior is at the root of the ecological crisis, and therefore at the heart of solving it.

The Laudato Si calls for the creation of an ecological citizenship, where people are adequately motivated to respond to the call on caring for our common home. This would be brought about by environmental education with a renewed focus on ecological ethics.

Given the challenges of today, education centered on scientific information, raising awareness, and avoiding environmental risks is no longer enough. It also needs a focus on critiquing and shattering the myths we consider as norms of the current modern life, from infinite growth to consumerism. It ultimately points for us to conduct ourselves in a way that is indicative of a lifestyle in harmony within ourselves and with others on Earth.

Activities such as avoiding the use of single-use plastics, minimizing wasteful consumption of food, water, and electricity, using public transportation, and tree-planting and growing have positive impacts in our struggle for protecting our planet. Doing these actions do not just benefit our environment; they also provide personal co-benefits in aspects such as financial savings and better health. (READ: Philippine survey shows 'shocking' plastic waste)

While these acts are done on an individual level, that does not mean they should be misconstrued as modes exclusively for self-improvement. A dilemma with the complexity of the climate crisis requires a societal approach to properly address them. Given their potential positive impacts on the individual and communal levels, such activities are likely to spread and be adopted by different communities.

As Pope Francis states, when done for the right reasons, each of these solutions can be considered as an act of love that reflects our societal responsibility for others and expresses our individual dignity.

The scientific lens

Several scientific reports have also proven the effectiveness of small-scale solutions for mitigating and adapting to the impacts of climate change. A 2018 study by the Center for Behavior and the Environment showed that almost two-thirds of global GHG emissions are associated with both direct and indirect means of human consumption.

It is noteworthy that almost every item we consume is made using resources such as fossil fuels. Therefore, if we start minimizing unnecessary consumption and actively look for alternatives, we are pressuring manufacturers to switch to more environment-friendly production and distribution systems, which in turn reduces consumption of pollutive fossil fuels and other resources. (READ: Single-use plastics, still the environment's number 1 enemy)

Furthermore, implementing small-scale behavioral solutions can reduce GHG emissions by as much as 37% from 2020 to 2050. These solutions involve modifications to activities involving food, agriculture and land management, transportation, and energy and materials.

This is supported by a report by Project Drawdown, a nonprofit organization dedicated to urgently reducing global GHG emissions. It claims that while the solutions to the climate crisis already exist, some of them receive relatively little attention compared to large-scale solutions such as developing more renewable energy resources, especially wind and solar.

This report identified the following as seven of the 10 most effective individual solutions: reduced food waste, health and education, plant-rich diets, refrigerant management, tropical forest restoration (including tree-planting), alternative refrigerants, and improved clean cookstoves. (READ: Sachet away: What's lacking in our plastic laws?)

The expression great things from small beginnings is almost a clich nowadays, but it still applies when it comes to climate and environment action. Everyone needs to be involved in preventing further climate change and environmental degradation. And despite what some people might tell you, accessible and affordable solutions do exist. An act of love could truly go a long way. Rappler.com

John Leo Algo is the Program Manager of Living Laudato Si Philippines and Climate Action for Sustainability Initiative (KASALI). He has been a citizen journalist and feature writer since 2016, focusing on the climate and environment beat. He earned his MS Atmospheric Science degree from the Ateneo de Manila University in December 2018.

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[OPINION] The Pope and single-use plastics - Rappler

Human Behavior

In Maine’s 200 years, man’s impact has altered the animal landscape – Lewiston Sun Journal

A look at the fate of just a few animal species during the 200 years that Maine has been a state tells the larger story of how humans impact wildlife. Whether these animals have vanished, returned, arrived or thrived all have direct or indirect links to human behavior.

Keep in mind, there is also a lot we dont know. Biologists dont have all the data, Noah Perlut, chair of University of New Englands Department of Environmental Studies, pointed out. To take just one example, the breeding bird survey now conducted annually across Maine wasnt even begun until the 1960s.

On the one hand, that is a really rich data set, Perlut said. On the other hand, its nothing compared to how long weve been here. Its not ecologically relevant data.

Here is a glimpse of the fortunes of a few species that roamed the forests, meadows and skies here at the time Maine became a state.

The Departed: Caribou

Since as far back as the 1700, several mammals have been extirpated from Maine or its waters, largely because of over-hunting. They include the gray whale, the eastern cougar (now extinct, although other subspecies of cougars survive in other parts of the country), the gray wolf, the wolverine and the woodland caribou.

In the 1800s, caribou were a source of food that was readily available, said Mark McCollough, the endangered species biologist in Maine with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. So much so, in fact, that they sustained the early settlers in northern Maine. But the last recorded caribou in Maine was shot on Mt. Katahdins Tablelands in 1908, he said.

More than 50 years later, in 1963, the state attempted to reintroduce them. Biologists brought 20 caribou from nearby Newfoundland to Baxter State Park. The project failed, though biologists at the time were not certain why, McCollough said. Portland businessmen funded a similar effort in 1986. Twenty caribou from Newfoundland were taken to Orono to breed. Later, 30 were released in Baxter, this time with radio collars affixed to their necks so scientists could track and study them more closely. Once again, not a single caribou survived. All fell prey to hungry bears or to brainworm, a parasite carried by, but not affecting, white-tailed deer.

It illustrated how difficult it is to try to right some of the wrongs that happened 100 or 200 years ago, McCollough said. If the environment has changed, there are factors that we may not even be aware of, like diseases that were not present 100 years ago.

The Survivor: White-Tailed Deer

Three commonly seen mammals have persisted in Maine at least since the early settlers arrived: moose, bear and white-tailed deer. But only the last has reached extraordinary numbers. In 2019, thestatewide population was estimated between 230,000 and 250,000, according to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

They live in cities and in deep woods, McCollough said. They live alongside us and benefit from the changes we make to the environment, whether carving out backyards or forestry projects. They like a fragmented forest.

At the turn of the 1800s, when northern Maine was first settled, few deer lived there, McCollough said. Their numbers grew in the next 100 years with the advent of log drives and the arrival of forestry. Such timber practices created new tree growth, providing the deer with the low-lying branches they like to eat. Coupled with urbanization in southern Maine, which fragmented the forests, deer numbers exploded.

Whatever happens with climate change, I have no doubt that deer will still be here 200 years from now, McCollough said.

The Returnee: Peregrine Falcon

Some good news: some of the species that vanished from Maine over the last 200 years have since returned. Typically, humans played a role both in their disappearance and their revival. As hunting practices ended or were curtailed, and as pollutants and insecticides were cleaned up or banned, a few species that roamed Maine historically are repopulating the state.

The fastest bird in the world the peregrine falcon was once extirpated from Maine. The peregrine, which can fly more than 200 mph, nested in the eastern United States until the early 1960s when widespread use of the insecticide DDT pushed the birds to the brink of extinction. The federal government listed them as endangered in 1970. Although DDT was banned in 1972, the raptor is still considered endangered in Maine. Through reintroduction efforts, however, their numbers here have grown.

A total of 153 young peregrines were reintroduced in Maine between 1984 and 1997. Since 2009, Maine has been home to at least 25 nesting pairs, according to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. Efforts by the state to create nesting platforms for the birds are ongoing.

In a lot of regions of the Northeast, peregrine falcons only nested on cliffs, Perlut said. Now they are nesting on bridges and quarries and buildings. That is adding more pairs than maybe were here historically.

The Newcomer: Turkey Vulture

Probably no animal better illustrates the resiliency of a newcomer in Maine than the coyote, which migrated across the country from the western United States in the 1940s. If it can survive in New York Citys Central Park, why not Maine? And it does.

A number of other non-native species have successfully moved here, too, including two species of vultures: the turkey vulture and the black vulture. The first documented breeding pair of turkey vultures arrived in 1970; they are now widespread across the state. In the past few years, there have been reports that black vultures are breeding here, too, Perlut said.

What drew them north? One theory credits urbanization, he said. Others believe birds follow highways, for the opportunity for road kill.

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In Maine's 200 years, man's impact has altered the animal landscape - Lewiston Sun Journal

Neuroscience

Alzheimer’s Brains Short Circuited by Defective Protein Connections – Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News

In many respects, the brain is a black box. The organ where our knowledge is derived is, ironically, also the one where much of the knowledge for its inner workings are lacking. However, researchers have devoted their lives to understanding the enigmatic organ and work tirelessly to prevent diseases that deprive it of its primary functions. For instance, new research from a team of investigators led by scientists at Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) has uncovered new findings that show how stress-induced changes in protein connections in the brain contribute to the cognitive decline seen in Alzheimers disease (AD).

Amazingly, the researchers were able to reverse this malfunctioning protein network and its associated cognitive decline in mice, using an experimental drug. Findings from the new studypublished recently in Nature Communications through an article entitled The epichaperome is a mediator of toxic hippocampal stress and leads to protein connectivity-based dysfunctionsuggest a new way to look at how Alzheimers develops in the brain by focusing on protein networks.

The research team used laboratory, mouse, and brain-tissue studies to examine the epichaperomea dysregulated network of proteins that affects how cells communicate and accelerate the course of disease.

To find out why epichaperomes were prevalent in Alzheimers, we used a new omics method, we call chaperomics, that allows us to assess functional outcomes of connectivity changes between normal individuals and those with Alzheimers, explained senior study investigator Gabriela Chiosis, PhD, a professor in the department of molecular pharmacology and chemistryat MSK. This new technology has a profound capacity for high throughput. Although chaperomics generates massive datasets, Chiosis states data analysis is meant to be readily accessible, indicating The bioinformatics platforms are straightforward and easy to comprehend, rather than adding additional complexity to these large protein connectivity-based results.

Various stressorssuch as genetic risk factors, vascular injury, and diabetescan damage brain circuitry in AD. According to this new study, these stressors seem to interact with proteins and contribute to toxic changes that begin in the hippocampus, a brain region involved in learning and memory. The researchers explored how these protein networks stop working properly and can be restored.

We used cellular and animal models as well as human biospecimens to show that AD-related stressors mediate global disturbances in dynamic intra- and inter-neuronal networks through pathologic rewiring of the chaperome system into epichaperomes, the authors wrote. These structures provide the backbone upon which proteome-wide connectivity, and in turn, protein networks become disturbed and ultimately dysfunctional.

Much like faulty wires in a circuit board that lead to network failure, epichaperomes seem to remodel cellular processes that, in turn, rewire protein connections supporting normal brain function. The resulting imbalance in brain circuitrywhich the authors call protein connectivity-based dysfunctionunderlies synaptic failure and other neurodegenerative processes. The researchers studied a cellular model of Alzheimers and a mouse model of the protein tau, as well as human brain tissue, which showed significantly more epichaperomes in individuals who had Alzheimers than in cognitively healthy people.

Based on their discoveries, Chiosis and her colleagues developed a new term to describe this phenomenonprotein connectivitybased dysfunction or PCBD. Many people who study Alzheimers are thinking about circuits in the brain. But theres no clear understanding of how stressors due to aging and the environment change the way proteins interact, noted collaborating scientist and study co-author Stephen Ginsberg, PhD, an associate professor at the Center for Dementia Research at the Nathan Kline Institute and departments of psychiatry, neuroscience & physiology and the NYU neuroscience institute at the NYU School of Medicine. Our research demonstrates that epichaperome formation rewires brain circuitry in Alzheimers by enabling proteins to misconnect, leading to downstream PCBD and cognitive decline.

In the current study, the research team treated young and old mice bred to have Alzheimers with an epichaperome inhibitor they developed, called PU-AD, three times per week for three to four months. The treated mice performed better on memory and learning tests than untreated mice had less tau (a protein seen in AD) and survived longer. Whats more, their brains looked like those of normal mice. PU-AD inhibited the faulty protein networks created by epichaperomes by correcting how the proteins connected and promoting nerve-cell survival.

We show at cellular and target organ levels that network connectivity and functional imbalances revert to normal levels upon epichaperome inhibition, the authors concluded. We provide proof-of-principle to propose AD is a PCBDopathy, a disease of proteome-wide connectivity defects mediated by maladaptive epichaperomes.

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Alzheimer's Brains Short Circuited by Defective Protein Connections - Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News

Immunology

16 Symptoms You May Not Know Are Allergic Reactions – 24/7 Wall St.

Special Report

16 Symptoms You May Not Know Are Allergic Reactions

Hristina Byrnes

Allergies are a very common chronic condition among Americans. More than 7% of the adult population is diagnosed with hay fever every year, which is the common name for allergic rhinitis. In the spring, hay fever is often caused by various types of tree pollen, grass, and weeds.

An allergy is the immune systems hypersensitivity reaction to usually harmless substances in the environment. If the body is allergic to food, most symptoms occur around the mouth, throat, or stomach. If the allergen is something a person breathes in, the symptoms are then likely to affect the eyes, nose, and lungs.

24/7 Tempo reviewed information by the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology and other health-focused sites to compile a list of both common and lesser-known symptoms of spring allergies.

The duration of the allergy season in the spring varies depending on geographic location. Cities in warmer climates tend to have longer pollen seasons, sometimes starting as early as January, while areas in colder climates tend to have shorter pollen seasons these are the 25 worst cities for people with spring allergies.

Click here for 16 symptoms you may not know are caused by spring allergies.

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Human Behavior

What Opioid Use in Rats Can Tell Us About Addiction in Humans – Tufts Now

In 2018, more than forty-seven thousand Americans died from an opioid overdose, and ten million misused prescription opioids. The highly addictive drugs have destroyed lives and families, regardless of income level, race, age, or gender.

Fair Vassoler, PhD, a neuroscientist at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine has spent years researching opioid use in rats and the effects the drugs have on the rats offspring. We recently sat down with her to discuss what her research can tell us about opioid addiction in humans.

Tufts Now: The United States is in the midst of an opioid addiction crisis. Why study opioid addiction in rats? Whats the advantage of studying that species?

Fair Vassoler: Rats have the same reward system as humans. In the wild, these systems are designed to get an individual to repeat a behavior because they find it pleasurable, like eating and mating. Its really for survival of the species. Because rats and humans have the same reward system, rats can be great models for human addiction and human substance-use disorder. We have a huge amount of literature already about rats and their responses to drugs of abuse, and their behaviors are very similar to what we see in humans.

We can see escalating behaviors in the rats where they take more and more drugs if you give them more access. We see the same thing in humans. We can see relapse behaviors in rats the same way that we see them in humansif you take the drug away and then put the rats back in an environment that reminds them of the drug, theyll start searching for it just the way a human would.

With rats, we can look at what is happening in the brain at that time. We can record data from different parts of the brain and see what changes are happening and relate those changes back to humans.

Your research looked at how opioid addiction affected the rats offspring. What did you find?

When the parents were adolescents, they were given injections of opioids for ten days, and then we stopped giving them any more opioids. So it was very brief exposure. We let them grow up to adulthood, then mated them and looked at their offspring to determine if the offspring were more or less likely to take opioids or cocaine.

We found that if the rats fathers had been exposed to opioids, then the rats were more likely to take opioids and worked harder to obtain opioids. But they were less likely to take cocaine.

If the rats mothers had taken opioids, we found exactly the opposite. The rats had decreased likelihood to take opioids and increased likelihood to take cocaine.

We looked at both drugs because a lot of people think substance-use disorder is substance-use disorder. You may think that if someone is interested in taking drugs, then theyd be interested in taking all the drugs. But the rats definitely discriminated, and this can give us clues about which part of the brain is changed.

What is the practical application for this research right now? Can any of it translate to humans?

Its not that we can take the results and say that humans would be the same as rats. Humans are a very tricky species to study because they have so many different environmental experiences that are hard to control for. But I do think our research can suggest which areas are vulnerable, such as how a predisposition to addiction can get passed on from one generation to the next, and different places for intervention.

We have to think about how this widespread exposure to opioids is going to be impacting the next human generation. If we can find the right interventions, we can provide support for people who have had past issues. If we can help them enrich their environment for themselves and for their children, it can really be helpful. Environmental enrichment is another form of epigenetic modification that may be able to reverse the developmental trajectory and contribute to normal healthy neurodevelopment. Im definitely on the side of compassion, enrichment, and social support, and I think that those things are going to be really important going forward.

Where is your research headed next? What other questions are you hoping to answer?

The research Im doing now is trying to look at the development from embryo, to prenatal pups, to postnatal day-one pups, and throughout development to see if we can figure out how the offspring rats are developing differently. That could help us understand why they would respond to these two drugs, opioids and cocaine, so differently.

If we can figure out the specific biological mechanisms by which such behaviors are transmitted from one generation to the next, then we can work to intervene medically, and well understand more about how evolutionary biology operates. Thats what will make our research more applicable to humans in the future.

If effects like you describe did leave a child predisposed to addiction, could you reverse that somehow, maybe with nurturing or environment?

What this research can tell us is that our environment can impact our offspring. All the experiences youre collecting throughout your life are changing your epigenetics, or the way that your offspring are going to develop. For the rats, the only thing that the male donates to the offspring is his sperm. He doesnt do any fathering. So, theres something in the sperm thats changed as a result of the previous drug exposure. We think these are epigenetic modifications.

For a long time, people thought an individuals genetics were responsible for everything. But even if you have the same genetics, your environmental experiences can change how you react to things and how your offspring are going to react to things. I also think some tendencies are going to be reversible. So just the same way that your own opioid use might change the way your offspring take drugs, if you provide lots of environmental enrichment, for example you read to your child every day, then that could change or mitigate some of the effects of your past opioid use. Environmental enrichment is beneficial for everyone and can be particularly helpful in providing a strong foundation for neurodevelopment of children.

Some peoples brains are going to be more vulnerable to addiction, and its a combination of environmental exposures and genetics. Its not a failure of morality. Understanding that this is not a choice, that its a disease, is important.

Angela Nelson can be reached atangela.nelson@tufts.edu.

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What Opioid Use in Rats Can Tell Us About Addiction in Humans - Tufts Now

Neuroscience

Exploring future spinal cord injury therapies – Drug Target Review

Drug Target Review explores five of the latest research developments in the field of spinal cord injury (SCI) repair.

MRIs of Lumbar & Thoracic spine showing how a fracture of thoracic spine gets worse over time.

Researchers have shown that increasing energy supply to injured spinal cord neurons can promote axon regrowth and motor function restoration after a spinal cord injury (SCI).

We are the first to show that spinal cord injury results in an energy crisis that is intrinsically linked to the limited ability of damaged axons to regenerate, said Dr Zu-Hang Sheng, study co-senior author, senior principal investigator at the US National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS).

According to the team, energy levels are damaged because the mitochondria that produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP) for neurons are located in the axons. When damaged, the mitochondria are unable to produce ATP at the same level.

Nerve repair requires a significant amount of energy, said Dr Sheng. Our hypothesis is that damage to mitochondria following injury severely limits the available ATP and this energy crisis is what prevents the regrowth and repair of injured axons.

The scientists suggest that this is compounded by the anchoring of mitochondria in adult cells alongside the axons, so once damaged they are hard to replace.

Using a murine model, called a Syntaphilin knockout, where mitochondria are free to move along the axons, the researchers showed that when mitochondria are more mobile, mice have significantly more axon regrowth across the site of SCI compared to control animals. The paper also demonstrated that newly-grown axons made appropriate connections beyond the injury site, leading to functional recovery of motor tasks.

They hypothesised that increasing mitochondrial transport and thus the available energy to the injury site could enable repair of damaged nerve fibres.

When fed creatine, a compound that enhances the formation of ATP, both the control and knockout mice had increased axon regrowth following injury, compared to mice fed saline instead. More robust nerve regrowth was seen in the knockout mice that received creatine.

We were very encouraged by these results, said Dr Sheng. The regeneration that we see in our knockout mice is very significant and these findings support our hypothesis that an energy deficiency is holding back the ability of both central and peripheral nervous systems to repair after injury.

Dr Sheng highlighted that despite the promising results of the study published in Cell Metabolism, genetic manipulation was required for the best regrowth as creatine produced only modest regeneration. He concluded that further research is required to develop therapeutic compounds that are more effective in entering the nervous system and increasing energy production for the treatment of SCI.

Experiments exploring the role of immune and glial cells in wound healing and neural repair has revealed that Plexin-B2, an axon guidance protein, is essential for their organisation after SCI.

The researchers suggest their findings could aid in the development of therapies that target axon guidance pathways for treatment of SCI.

An artists impression of a macrophage.

The paper published in Nature Neuroscience reveals that Plexin-B2 on macrophages and microglia is essential for the process of corralling, where microglia and macrophages are mobilised and form a protective barrier around the site of SCI, separating healthy and necrotic tissue. In this study, researchers found that corralling begins early in the healing process and requires the ability of Plexin-B2 to steer immune cells away from colliding cells.

When they deleted Plexin-B2 from the microglia and macrophages in tissues, it led to tissue damage, inflammatory spillover and hindered axonal regeneration.

The lead investigator Dr Hongyan Jenny Zou, Professor of Neurosurgery and Neuroscience at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, US, said the results were quite unexpected.

She concluded that understanding the signalling pathways and interactions of glial cells with each other and the injury environment is fundamental to improving neural repair after a traumatic brain or spinal cord injury.

Another studyexploring the interactions of macrophages and microglia has revealed that in the central nervous system (CNS), microglia interfere with macrophages preventing them from moving out of damaged regions of the CNS.

We expected the macrophages would be present in the area of injury, but what surprised us was that microglia actually encapsulated those macrophages and surrounded them almost like police at a riot. It seemed like the microglia were preventing them from dispersing into areas they should not be, said Jason Plemel, a medical researcher at Canadas University of Alberta and a member of the Neuroscience and Mental Health Institute.

A microglial cell stained with Rio Hortegas silver carbonate method under the microscope.

Plemel said that more research is required to ascertain why this is happening, but they found that both the immune cells that protect the CNS, microglia and the immune cells of the peripheral immune system, macrophages, are present early after demyelination and microglia continue to accumulate at the expense of macrophages.

When we removed the microglia to understand what their role was, the macrophages entered into uninjured tissue. This suggests that when there is injury, the microglia interfere with the macrophages in our CNS and act as a barrier preventing their movement.

The scientists said that this observation was only possible because they were able to distinguish between microglia and macrophages, which has historically not been possible. Using this technique, they established than one type of microglia responded to demyelination. The results were published in Science Advances.

The indication of at least two different populations of microglia is an exciting confirmation for us, said Plemel. We are continuing to study these populations and hopefully, in time, we can learn what makes them unique in terms of function. The more we know, the closer we get to understanding what is going on (or wrong) when there is neurodegeneration or injury and being able to hypothesise treatment and prevention strategies.

Researchers suggest subpially-injecting neural precursor cells (NSCs) may reduce the risk of further injury associated with current spinal cell delivery techniques.

NSCs have the potential to differentiate into many neural cell types depending on the environment and have been the subject of investigation in both the field of SCI repair and neurodegenerative disease therapies.

subpially-injected cells are likely to accelerate and improve treatment potency in cell-replacement therapies for several spinal neurodegenerative disorders

However, the senior author of this study Dr Martin Marsala, professor in the Department of Anesthesiology at University of California (UC) San Diego School of Medicine, US, explained the current delivery techniques involve direct needle injection into the spinal parenchyma the primary cord of nerve fibres running through the vertebral column, so there is an inherent risk of (further) spinal tissue injury or intraparenchymal bleeding.

The novel technique Dr Marsala proposed in a paper published in Stem Cells Translational Medicine, is to inject these cells into the spinal subpial space an area between the pial membrane and the superficial layers of the spinal cord.

This injection technique allows the delivery of high cell numbers from a single injection, Dr Marsala explained. Cells with proliferative properties, such as glial progenitors, then migrate into the spinal parenchyma and populate over time in multiple spinal segments as well as the brain stem. Injected cells acquire the functional properties consistent with surrounding host cells.

The research collaborators suggest that subpially-injected cells are likely to accelerate and improve treatment potency in cell-replacement therapies for several spinal neurodegenerative disorders. This may include spinal traumatic injury, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and multiple sclerosis, said study senior author Dr Joseph Ciacci, a neurosurgeon at UC San Diego Health.

The team now intend to move their experiments from rats to larger pre-clinical animal models, more anatomically similar to humans. The goal is to define the optimal cell dosing and timing of cell delivery after spinal injury, which is associated with the best treatment effect, concluded Dr Marsala.

Dr Mohamad Khazaei is the recipient of the STEM CELLS Translational Medicines (SCTM) Young Investigator Award for his work on SCI.

The award recognises advancements in the field of stem cells and regenerative medicine made by young researchers. The recipient is the principal author of an article published in SCTM that, over the course of a year, is deemed to have the most impact.

Dr Khazaeis work focuses on bringing cell-based strategies, such as NSC transplantation, into the therapeutic pipeline through generating and differentiating novel cell types using genetic and cell engineering approaches.

While we currently lack effective regenerative medicine treatment options for spinal cord injuries, Dr Khazaeis work to create a cell transplantation therapy utilising neural precursor cells is novel and provides a promising approach, said Dr Anthony Atala, Editor-in-Chief of SCTM and director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

His winning paper details how Dr Khazaei and his team used neurons and oligodendrocytes to obtain better functional recovery after SCI.

Related topicsCell Regeneration, CNS, Disease research, Drug Delivery, Drug Discovery, Drug Targets, Neurons, Neurosciences, Regenerative Medicine, Research & Development, Therapeutics

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Exploring future spinal cord injury therapies - Drug Target Review