Tag Archives: environment

Neuroscience

New Investigation into Abnormal Neuron Activity in Rett Syndrome – Technology Networks

The brain undergoes dramatic change during the first years of life. Its circuits readily rewire as an infant and then child encounters new sights and sounds, taking in the world and learning to understand it. As the child matures and key developmental periods pass, the brain becomes less malleable--but certain experiences create opportunities for parts of the adult brain to rewire and learn again.

New research by Billy Lau, a postdoctoral researcher working with Assistant Professor Keerthi Krishnan in the Department of Biochemistry and Cellular and Molecular Biology in the University of Tennessee, Knoxville's College of Arts and Sciences, examines the time during which an adult female mouse first learns to recognize and respond to the distress cries of young mouse pups as one such opportunity for rewiring.

The findings were published earlier this month in the Journal of Neuroscience and hint at potential therapeutic strategies for Rett syndrome, a rare neurodevelopmental disorder.

Krishnan's lab researches how mutated genes affect brain plasticity, ultimately leading to neurological diseases, specifically Rett syndrome. In humans, mutations in the gene MECP2 cause Rett syndrome. Children with Rett syndrome appear to develop normally for the first several months of life but later begin to lose language and motor skills.

"Children diagnosed with neurodevelopmental disorders eventually grow up and continue to exhibit symptoms throughout life," Krishnan said. "Though much research is focused on identifying and diagnosing neurodevelopmental disorders, much work needs to be done to help improve or manage symptoms for patients throughout their life. Rett syndrome mainly affects girls and women worldwide; very few studies focus on pathology of the disorder in adult women."

For several years, Lau and Krishnan have been conducting research with a team at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory headed by Stephen Shea and Josh Huang. In their previous work, the team discovered that female mice lacking one functional copy of Mecp2 failed to respond to the distress cries of their young. The scientists honed in on the abnormal behavior of a group of neurons in the auditory cortex called parvalbumin (PV) neurons together with higher protein expression of perineuronal nets (PNNs), structures that improve connections within the brain.

"PVs and PNNs are thought to be inhibitory, acting as a brake in the brain that prevents learning," Lau said. "In the new study, we tested this hypothesis. Our findings reveal a physiological mechanism underlying the progression of Rett syndrome that may extend to other brain regions."

In the new study, Lau and the other members of the team took a closer look at how exposure to the young pups changes signaling within the auditory cortex of female mice. By monitoring the activity of individual cells in this part of the brain, the researchers found that when Mecp2 is intact, the dampening effect of PNNs and PV neurons decreases following exposure to the pups. This allows other neurons in the circuit to become more responsive to the young animals' cries. This change occurred even in mice that had never been pregnant. In female mice whose Mecp2 gene was impaired, however, the dampening signals remained strong.

The findings support previous evidence that the function of PV neurons is particularly vulnerable to the loss of Mecp2, suggesting that these cells or the circuits they are involved in may be appropriate targets for drug development and that patients with Rett syndrome may be most responsive to treatment during certain periods of life in conjunction with their environment and social experience.

"This work has implications in continuing to understand what roles Mecp2 plays in typical brain activity and function, especially in complex social situations, similar to what patients encounter in their daily lives," Krishnan said. "If we understand the mechanisms and roles of this protein in social communication and perception, we will be able to find ways to compensate for lack of this protein through therapeutic or rehabilitative treatments."

This article has been republished from the following materials. Note: material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source.

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New Investigation into Abnormal Neuron Activity in Rett Syndrome - Technology Networks

Neuroscience

Building Authentic Courage: The Essential Foundation For Successful Diversity And Inclusion – Forbes

Jacqueline Brassey, McKinsey & Company

Dr. Jacqui Brassey, Director of Learning and Development at McKinsey & Company and a practitioner academic, shares with me the essence of her new, coauthored book, Advancing Authentic Confidence through Emotional Flexibility and highlights key lessons for management and leadership training.

Successful Diversity And Inclusion (D&I): An Elusive Fairy-Tale?

Dana is excited. She has just joined a fast-growing start-up. It is a huge opportunity for her. Her project manager, Kurt, is equally thrilled to have her on board; this huge project is his first as lead and Dana brings exactly the right skillset to help steer it in the right direction.

But a few weeks in, Kurt is uneasy. Uncomfortable with Danas suggestions and her very different approach to managing suppliers, Kurt senses his control slipping away. Her skills are just what the team needs her previous organizations raved about her but her style and her methods are different from his. He starts to worry constantly about how to regain control. He starts questioning not only his decision to hire Dana but his own abilities. He feels stuck and totally unequipped to manage such uncertainty.

For all the noise on the importance of diversity and the benefits of inclusion, there are many leaders who, like Kurt, find managing the realities of D&I easier said than done. They have tried many different tools, initiatives, workshops and events: on unconscious bias, diversity, womens leadership, LGBTQ+ allies. The list is long, results mixed. Real evidence of progress through D&I is intermittent, irregular or non-existent.

The Inclusion Paradox

One key reason for this lack of progress, not often recognized, is the Inclusion Paradox. This is basic neuroscience: as human beings we love to connect and engage with others. We love to be part of communities, families and friends. And where we feel safe we flourish.

Conversely, when we meet people who are different from us, whether in how they look, work, talk or behave, we can consciously or unconsciously feel threatened. Consciously or unconsciously, as we make sense of the world around us, we form impressions about others and tend either to connect or to move away from them, whether physically in the office, in teamwork or over a coffee. We simply feel more at ease creating environments where we mix with people similar to us.

Whilst we know this to be true, in our increasingly complex world we desperately need people to engage with one another, work together and collaborate. We need a broad spread of talent within organizations, with skill and background diversity, more women, ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+ members, and others who are different from us.

So how do we combine our basic, psychological need for safe social engagement with our potential fear of difference and unconscious bias?

The Importance Of Authentic Courage

Working environments are changing fast and flexible working is becoming the norm. Leaders must evolve quickly to lead successful multidisciplinary teams. And top of the list of skills they need is courage: authentic courage to be inclusive.

Three Dimensions Of Modern Leadership

Simply put, familiarity makes us feel safe, whilst unfamiliarity even in the smallest detail can change that feeling to unsafe. In these circumstances our stress system activates, our executive brain functioning is compromised, our emotional neural pathways take over and we make poorer judgments and decisions.

Crucial Components Of Management And Leadership Training

The role of leader has changed from one of superior knowledge and understanding and having all the answers to one of integrator, synthesizer and connector. We must all strive to develop this new skillset in ourselves and in others in an integrative and inclusive way through ongoing management and leadership training.

Key skills include suspending judgment, accepting fear and discomfort, mindfulness, curiosity, distant observation, staying grounded, keeping the end goal in mind, awareness, having a consciousness radar, and staying with the discomfort of not knowing the answers. Such skills combined bring authentic confidence, emotional flexibility and the courage to be inclusive.

All these competences can be taught and integrated into learning and development programs but they are still not getting enough traction.

Once we understand the paradox of inclusion and start to nurture these leadership skills at the helm of effective multidisciplinary teams, we will pave the way for real impact on diversity and create the environment where inclusion harnesses the rewards of a diverse talent base.

Dr. Jacqui Brassey coauthored Advancing Authentic Confidence through Emotional Flexibility with Prof dr. Nick van Dam and Prof dr. Arjen van Witteloostuijn. As well as part of McKinseys Learning Leadership Team, Dr. Brassey is Adjunct Professor at IE University, Research Fellow at VU Amsterdam and Supervisory Board member at Save the Children in the Netherlands. She has coauthored more than 15 publications.

If youd like more information about professional development programs to support your future modern leaders, please visit My Confidence Matters.

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Building Authentic Courage: The Essential Foundation For Successful Diversity And Inclusion - Forbes

Genetics

How to Argue with a Racist smashes race myths that plague society – New Scientist News

By Layal Liverpool

Guy Smallman/Getty

I am black and mixed-race, but it remains unclear to me whether these are social identities or biological classifications. Luckily, I can turn to Adam Rutherfords latest book, How to Argue with aRacist, to reveal the current scientific understanding of race, ancestry and genetics. It also tells us how to argue effectively against the idea that certain populations of people are biologically inferior.

From the beginning, Rutherford is clear that although he uses the term race frequently, he does so only because the word is widely used: it isnt scientifically valid, yet it exists so must be addressed. Race is a social construct. This does not mean it is invalid or unimportant, writes Rutherford.

How to Argue with a Racists strongest suit is to encourage a general conversation about race, informed by the latest science on the reality and origins of racism. Researching ethnicity has often been career death, but Rutherford says scientists shouldnt shy away from the field. Nor should writers, to judge by his mission.

For many, race is a cry for identity and belonging. In 2018, when groups of neo-Nazis in the US chugged milk to supposedly demonstrate their superior, genetically encoded ability toprocess lactose, they were trying to assert their white identity, writes Rutherford.

He rather undermines such anassertion by revealing that thegene mutations that enable lactose processing arent unique to people of European descent. They also exist today in Kazakhs, Ethiopians, Tutsi, Khoisan and in many places where dairy farming took off as part of agriculture.

Chugging milk is a theatrical gesture, but as Rutherford points out, we increasingly turn to ancestry and genetic testing toreaffirm our human tendency to seek meaning and identity.

I can relate to this. My surname, Liverpool, comes from an ancestor on my fathers side, forcibly shipped from West Africa to the Caribbean via Liverpool, UK, during the transatlantic slave trade. But as Rutherford points out, the number of children produced by sex between enslaved peoples, and between the enslaved and their owners, makes it virtually impossible for a genetic test to establish an African country of origin for the descendants of slaves.

Instead of arguing against thelogic of marrying identity toancestry, Rutherford elegantly uses a bit of mathematics to showhow our whole way of thinking about ancestry is wrong.

He assumes generational time is 25 years and that the number ofancestors for each person in every generation has doubled. Sowe each have two parents, fourgrandparents, eight great-grandparents, and so on. In 500years, or 20 generations, that is 1,048,576 ancestors. Go back 1000 years, and each of us has more than a trillion ancestors: 10 times more people than ever existed.

The notion of a family tree isnt the most scientifically accurate metaphor, he writes, because trees only ever branch, but family trees contain loops, with the same person appearing at multiple positions in the tree, for example, as a result of first cousins having children. Understanding that we are all more closely related to one another than we think is a pretty strong argument against racism.

Is any of this enough to convince hard-liners? Maybe not.As Rutherford writes: Thecommercial genetic testsremain scientifically unconvincing. Regardless, the utility of consumer genetic testing is now a major and significant part of white supremacy discourse.

But in many ways How to Argue with a Racist isnt really about arguing with hard-liners. Its target is the surprisingly prevalent set of racist beliefs, from men of certain groups having larger or smaller penises than average to people from different racial groups being more or less intelligent than average. The way we generally speak about races does not align with what we know about those innate differences between people and populations, says Rutherford.

For example, the largest study of penis size, including more than 15,000 men, found no evidence that the organs length or girth correlates with any particular population, racial category or ethnicity, while intelligence is a complex trait influenced by a score of genes and their interaction with our environment.

Rutherford hunts widely to account for the persistence of suchracist ideas. But in the end, hefaces down the biggest issue atthe core of many of these raciststereotypes: is race truly abiological classification?We are constantly told that it is asocial construct, but scientists muddy the waters by appearing tocontradict this as they perhaps carelessly mention both race and ethnicity in their research papers.

Rutherford is clear that the majority of geneticists think genetic differences between ethnic groups are meaningless interms of behaviour or innateabilities. But he also acknowledges the contradiction because scientific papers are still published in which genes for complex traits like intelligence seem stratified along racial lines.

Race science is pseudoscience, but genetics and evolutionary research are inextricably tied up with race, and are often used by racists to justify themselves. Rutherford accepts that the field ofhuman genetics has a dark history, founded by racists in a time of racism, but also argues that genetics has demonstrated the scientific falsity of race.

He writes that scientists reluctance to express views concerning the politics that mightemerge from human genetics is a position perhaps worth reconsidering. After all, he argues, those who misuse science for ideological ends show no such restraint, and embrace modern tech to spread their messages.

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How to Argue with a Racist smashes race myths that plague society - New Scientist News

Biochemistry

UVA Honors Its Leading Researchers at Boar’s Head Banquet – University of Virginia

The University of Virginias top leaders gathered Wednesday evening at the Boars Head Resort to honor faculty members from across Grounds for their outstanding contributions to their fields of study and societal impact through their research and scholarly activities.

University of Virginia President Jim Ryan presented the 2019 Research Achievement Awards to 13 UVA faculty members at the dinner event.

This is the first year of the Research Achievement Awards, Vice President for Research Melur Ram Ramasubramanian said. We believe that as a university, we are what we celebrate. We want to acknowledge the talented UVA faculty who are leaders in their fields and are impacting the world in positive ways.

Provost Elizabeth Liz Magill said, Were delighted to have a chance to celebrate the accomplishments and achievements of our faculty. From education policy to precision medicine to police-community relations, there are many different fields and individuals being honored by these awards.

Im awed and immensely grateful for the contributions the award winners have made to their respective fields and to the University of Virginia, Ryan said. Our strategic plan focuses a good deal of attention on supporting research. ... Our ultimate goal is to make it possible for researchers at UVA to do their very best work.

The awards covered excellence in research, collaboration, mentorship, public impact and innovation.

Pompano arrived at UVA in 2014 and assembled a robust research team in her lab. Pursuing new technologies and new questions, she is developing new approaches to study immunity. In the areas of immunoanalysis and immunoenineering, she is working to map out cellular activity in live tissues. Her group was recently awarded a large grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop an artificial lymph node on a microfluidic chip.

Dr. Pompano chose the road less travelled by pursuing entirely new technologies and questions, rather than the safer route of building on the experiences from her Ph.D. or postdoc work, Jill Venton, chair of the Department of Chemistry, said. This strategy required spending the first 2.5 years of her professorship laying new groundwork. Dr. Pompano is a research leader in the fields of analytical chemistry and immunoengineering.

Bassoks work is in early childhood education, and her focus has been to find a way for it to both meet high standards and make a difference in the lives of young children. To do this, she has partnered with policymakers and school districts in Virginia and Louisiana to study how early childhood education opportunities can happen at scale.

In the past four years, her work has accelerated. She has published 16 articles and received more than $6 million in grant funding. In 2017, Bassok was honored with the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.

Daphna Bassok has raised the bar for the field and will motivate other scholars to do more insightful and rigorous work, said Katherine Magnuson, director of UVAs Institute for Research on Poverty.

Alhusens research focuses on improving maternal and early infant health outcomes for disabled women and women living in poverty. Her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Health Resources and Services Administration and numerous foundations, and the goal of her work is to provide higher quality care to vulnerable populations.

She has received numerous awards for her work, including the Southern Nursing Research Society Early Science Investigator Award; the Association of Womens Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses Award for Excellence in Research; and School of Nursings Faculty Research Mentor Award.

Walsh is Lockhart B. McGuire Professor of Internal Medicine and directs the School of Medicines Hematovascular Biology Center. His research is focused on clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential, or CHIP.

In his lab, he is looking at how mutations in blood cells lead to chronic diseases like heart attack and stroke. Through precision medicine, he is identifying and combatting the out-of-control multiplying process in these mutations to fight age-related diseases, as well as blood cancers like leukemia.

Walsh has published more than 350 scientific articles and he is the recipient of multiple research grants from the National Institutes of Health, including a MERIT Award. In 2011, the American Heart Association designated him a Distinguished Scientist by for his contributions to cardiovascular research.

Throughout his career, Scullys research, scholarship and teaching have focused on the science of how corrosion occurs and the engineering required to prevent it. He has conducted research and collaborated with scientists around the world in numerous industries such as energy, transportation, infrastructure, aerospace, maritime and microelectronics.

His projects include two U.S. Department of Energy Energy Frontier Research centers, two Department of Defense multi-university research initiatives, as well as grants from the National Science Foundation, PPG Industries and Axalta (formerly DuPont), and the U.S. Office of the Undersecretary of Defense.

Scully, the Charles Henderson Chaired Professor and chair of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, also co-directs the Center for Electrochemical Science and Engineering, one of the leading centers in the world focusing on materials degradation. The center has generated more than $30 million in research funding in the last 10 years and graduates on average four to five Ph.D. students per year.

Scully is technical editor in chief of CORROSION, The Journal of Science and Engineering, the premier international research journal for the field. He serves in several capacities as an ambassador for the materials-corrosion field, including several meetings to debrief the U.S. Congress on materials degradation issues of national importance.

John Scullys contributions to corrosion can be characterized by quality, quantity and longevity, said Gerald S. Frankel, Ohio State University distinguished professor in materials science and engineering and a member of CORROSIONs editorial board. It is clear that he is a world leader, if not the world leader, in metal passivity, passivity breakdown and localized corrosion, and stress corrosion cracking.

In more his more than 20 years at UVA, Lambert has advanced the science of risk analysis and systems engineering. He has led more than 60 projects related to advanced logistics systems for a total of approximately $25 million in research funding.

Lambert, a professor in the Department of Engineering Systems and Environment, has focused on the disruption of system priorities by emergent and future conditions, including technologies, regulations, markets, environments, behaviors and missions. His work has been applied to disaster resilience, energy infrastructure, coastal protection, economic development, transportation, biofuels and Olympics planning, among other challenges.

His research has been cited more than 5,000 times across more than 200 publications. In 2019, he chaired the Fifth World Congress on Risk, convening more than 300 scientists in Cape Town, South Africa.

Professor Lambert is among the most accomplished and respected scientists of systems engineering and risk analysis in the world today, said Igor Linkov, Risk and Decision Science Team Lead for the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center. Lambert in his research invented the application of scenario-based preferences in risk analysis.

Connelly, Morris and Grossman worked together on a multi-disciplinary project to examine how early life experiences affect the brain and social behaviors. The team studies the brain, as well as social and cognitive development, during the first two years of life, focusing on oxytocin and its role in social behavior. Their research has helped to illuminate gaps in our knowledge about behavioral development in humans, and helps us better understand healthy and atypical development.

They received a National Science Foundation Research Award in 2017 for their cutting-edge approach in combining epigenetic, neuroscience and behavioral methods across their three labs, and their work has led to several publications.

Moore is a busy physician-scientist with his own lab, and has recently become the division chief of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, & Nutrition at UVA. He also co-wrote the application for a Trans-University Microbiome Initiative grant, which was funded last year by the Universitys Strategic Investment Fund in an effort to make UVA a center for microbiome research. But that has not stopped him from repeatedly aiding his colleagues and providing them with key resources when they needed them.

Three colleagues joined forces to nominate Moore for the mentorship award, mentioning his critical support, his generous sponsorship and advice, and his guidance as they dealt with grant applications and the logistics of their first accepted grants. Moore went above and beyond, donating lab space and reaching out to his networks to help them make the connections and give them a leg up in their careers.

Williams only arrived at Batten two years ago, but after the violent Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in August 2017 he was able to immediately show the value of his research and public service engagement to the University community.

Starting before he came to the University, he has spent two decades doing research in the field on police-community relations around racial profiling, community policing and the need for law enforcement officers to work with their community on issues of public safety. In all his work, he strives to make an impact on communities by building relationships and tackling problems wherever they crop up.

Dr. Williams consistently uses his knowledge, experience and passion for the good of our city, Mindy Goodall, executive director of the Charlottesville Police Foundation, said. Charlottesville is fortunate to have gained him as a citizen and champion of police and community reconciliation.

The award for Innovator of the Year was presented to Dillingham and Ingersoll for their creation of PositiveLinks, an application designed to improve health outcomes and care for people living with HIV. They will give deliver a keynote lecture Feb. 18 in the Rotunda Dome Room.

Other researchers (in alphabetical order by school) were honored for being the top 25 in sponsored funding, top cited, national award winners, named to a national academy, or named as an outstanding researcher for their school:

Timothy Beatley, PlanningBarbara Brown Wilson, PlanningMona El Khafif, Urban & Environmental Planning

Jessica Connelly, PsychologyRita F. Dove, EnglishKevin Everson, ArtTobias Grossman, PsychologyL. Ilse Cleeves, AstronomyNitya Kallivayalil, AstronomyLee M. Lockwood, EconomicsJames P. Morris, PsychologyKen Ono, MathematicsRebecca R. Pompano, ChemistryMarilyne Stains, ChemistryAlan S. Taylor, History

Christopher Barrett, Director

David G. Mick, Marketing

Derrick P. Alridge, Leadership, Foundations and PolicyDaphna Bassok, Leadership, Foundations and PolicyRobert Q. Berry, Instruction and Special EducationCatherine Bradshaw, Human ServicesBenjamin L. Castleman, Leadership, Foundations and PolicyNancy L. Deutsch, Youth-NexJason Downer, Human ServicesSara E. Rimm-Kaufman, Leadership, Foundations and PolicyWilliam J. Therrien, Instruction and Special EducationArt Weltman, KinesiologyJoanna Lee Williams, Leadership, Foundations and PolicyAmada P. Williford, Human Services

Thomas H. Barker, Biomedical EngineeringHilary Bart-Smith, Mechanical and Aerospace EngineeringCraig H. Benson, Environmental EngineeringSteven M. Bowers, Electrical and Computer EngineeringJames T. Burns, Material ScienceBenton H. Calhoun, Electrical and Computer EngineeringJoe C. Campbell, Electrical and Computer EngineeringGeorge J. Christ, Biomedical EngineeringJason L. Forman, Center for Applied BiomechanicsJeffery W. Holmes, Biomedical EngineeringPatrick E. Hopkins, Mechanical and Aerospace EngineeringKevin A. Janes, Biomedical EngineeringJames H. Lambert, Systems and EnvironmentXiaodong (Chris) Li, Mechanical and Aerospace EngineeringPamela M. Norris, Mechanical and Aerospace EngineeringElizabeth J. Opila, Material ScienceMatthew B. Panzer, Mechanical and Aerospace EngineeringJohn R. Scully, Material ScienceKevin Skadron, Computer ScienceMary Lou Soffa, Computer ScienceJohn A. Stankovic, Computer ScienceMalathi Veeraraghavan, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Brian N. Williams, Public PolicyJay Shimshack, Research Dean

Jayakrishna Ambati, OphthalmologyRuth Bernheim, Public Health SciencesAlison K. Criss, Microbiology /GIDIRebecca Dillingham, Infectious DiseasesLinda R. Duska, Obstetrics/Gynecology OncologyAnindya Dutta, Biochemistry/Molecular GeneticsW. Jeff Elias, NeurosurgeryEdward H. Egelman, Biochemistry/Molecular GeneticsRobin A. Felder, Clinical PathologyEric R. Houpt, Infectious DiseasesKaren Ingersoll, Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral SciencesKaren C. Johnston, NeurologyJaideep Kapur, NeurologyAnne K. Kenworthy, Molecular Physics and BiophysicsJonathan Kipnis, NeuroscienceRobert C. Klesges, Public Health SciencesBoris P. Kovatchev, Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral SciencesThomas P. Loughran, Oncology and MedicineColeen A. McNamara, Internal and Cardiovascular MedicineWladek Minor, Molecular Physics and BiophysicsSean R. Moore, PediatricsJames P. Nataro, PediatricsImre Noth, Internal and Pulmonary MedicineMark D. Okusa, NephrologyGary K. Owens, Cardiovascular Research, Molecular Physiology and Biological PhysicsKevin A. Pelphrey, NeurologyWilliam A. Petri, Internal Medicine and Infectious DiseasesKodi S. Ravichandran, MicrobiologyPatricio E. Ray, PediatricsStephen S. Rich, Public Health SciencesLukas K. Tamm, Molecular Physics and BiophysicsGregory C. Townsend, Internal Medicine and Infectious DiseasesKenneth Walsh, Internal and Cardiovascular MedicineKatharine Hsu Wibberly, Public Health SciencesMichael C. Wiener, Molecular Physics and BiophysicsMark Yeager, Molecular Physics and BiophysicsJames C. Zimring, Pathology

Jeanne L. Alhusen, Nursing

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UVA Honors Its Leading Researchers at Boar's Head Banquet - University of Virginia

Physiology

Upcoming One Health Conference hopes to inspire interconnectivity – UConn Daily Campus

Students for One Health hopes their upcoming conference will inspire University of Connecticut students and faculty to adapt and create a healthier world, MadisonBritting, co-conference director and sixth-semester physiology and neurobiology major, said.

The One Health conference will be taking place Saturday Feb. 8 from 10a.m.4p.m.on the third floor of the Student Union, Murphy Kenny, co-conference director and sixth-semesterphysiology and neurobiology major,said. Themain topic of discussion will be explaining the philosophy of One Health, along with worldwide issues and possible solutions.

One Health is the idea that human, environmentand animal health are all interconnected and affect one another, Murphy said. If one suffers, they all suffer.

There will be two guest speakers,Brittingsaid. The first speaker is Rob Werner, the New Hampshire State Director for the League of Conservation Voters and Energy and Environment Advisory committee member on the Concord City Council. The second speaker isDr. SandraBushmich, theassociate dean of academic programs for theCollege of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources.

[Werner] will be talking about climate change impacts, public health and the benefits of transitioning to a clean energy economy at 10:30 a.m.,Brittingsaid. [Bushmich]will be talking about a One Health view of tick-borne diseases in Connecticut at 2:30 p.m.

In addition to the guest speakers,there will be four workshops throughout the day, Kenny said. These workshops include a DIY pick-your-scent laundry detergent, recycling games, flower potdecorating and a Solutions Room. She said that these workshops will help provide easy solutions thathelp create a healthier planet.

Brittingsaid that the DIY laundry detergent workshop highlights the idea that everyday products that appear harmless arent quite as they seem.

For the DIY laundry detergent workshop,students will be provided the ingredients and a recycled jar to make laundry detergent that is safer for the environment, animals, and us,Brittingsaid. Regular store-bought laundry detergent has harmful chemicals that can cause health problems, dont biodegradeand contaminate our watersupplies, rivers and oceans,creating algal blooms that can starve fish and plants from oxygen.

There will be an ongoing art project that attendees can help decorate, Kenny said. It will be placed in the CAHNR building after the event.

From 12:30 p.m. to2:30 p.m., therewill be student organizations and research teams presenting their particular niche of One Health,Brittingsaid.

This will provide a space for conference attendees to explore on their own and possibly spark a new interest in a One Health-related field, she said.

BothBrittingand Murphy encourage all undergraduates, graduates and faculty to attend this free event.Brittingsaid she hopes the conference will make an impact.

This very important ideology is popular in countries throughout the world, but has not taken off in the United States yet, so we are hoping this conference will spread the word,Brittingsaid.

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Upcoming One Health Conference hopes to inspire interconnectivity - UConn Daily Campus

Neuroscience

How the Striatum’s Cell Types Work Together To Keep Us Moving – Technology Networks

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have mapped how different nerve cells in the brain's striatum process information to plan and execute our movements at just the right time and with the right vigour. The results, presented in the journal Cell Reports, show that different cell types in the striatum receive signals from completely different parts of the cerebral cortex and thus respond to different types of information.

Many behaviours occur in response to sensory input from our environment. For example, when playing a new piece on the piano, we adjust our finger movements according to the sound we hear and the sensory feedback from the keys. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden aimed to increase our understanding of how this works by studying the neuronal network that allows us to align our planned movements to sensory information such as touch. The nerve cells (neurons) that underlie this function are in the striatum, which is part of a larger structure in the brain called the basal ganglia.

While playing piano, sensory feedback from our fingertips is processed in the somatosensory cortex, the brain area specialised for touch. Movements are planned in a separate part of the brain called motor cortex. Information from the somatosensory cortex, the motor cortex and other brain areas such as thalamus are sent to the striatum, which is the first instance where movement plans and sensory information are combined. Based on the broad information delivered by these inputs, the striatum is able to generate a precisely timed output signal that is sent back to the muscles and allows us to press the next keys correctly on the piano.

"Although it has long been known that the striatum is composed of different types of nerve cells, it is unclear how striatal cells achieve this complex function," says Yvonne Johansson, PhD student at the Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet. "To address this question, we asked which striatal cell populations process which incoming information."

The researchers have used optogenetics, among other technologies, to analyse which of five important cell types in the striatum are responsible for the communication from the motor cortex, the somatosensory cortex and the thalamus.

Studies on mice revealed that striatal medium spiny neurons strongly respond to sensory inputs representing a sensation of touch. Another class of striatal neurons, the low-threshold spiking interneurons, hardly respond to inputs carrying sensory information but are strongly activated by inputs from motor cortex. In sharp contrast, cholinergic interneurons respond most strongly to thalamic inputs which are thought to notify us that something important is happening in our environment.

The researchers also found that the responses of the different neuron classes are mediated by different receptor compositions. As some receptors open faster than others, the receptors strongly shape the timing of the response.

The findings shed new light on how the striatum is systematically processing the vast amount of information that it receives.

"Our work shows that the flow of information into the striatal network is highly organised and that the properties of the numerous inputs targeting different striatal neuron populations are pathway-specific," says Gilad Silberberg, professor at the Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet.

Reference: Johansson, Y., & Silberberg, G. (2020). The Functional Organization of Cortical and Thalamic Inputs onto Five Types of Striatal Neurons Is Determined by Source and Target Cell Identities. Cell Reports, 30(4), 1178-1194.e3. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2019.12.095

This article has been republished from the following materials. Note: material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source.

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How the Striatum's Cell Types Work Together To Keep Us Moving - Technology Networks

Human Behavior

Simple and effective- Best ways to dispose of plastic! – Times of India

India consumes an estimated 16.5 million tonnes, about 1.6 million truck full of plastic annually, of which 25-30% percent remains uncollected as per this June 2018 report. The plastic processing industry is estimated to grow to 22 million tonnes per year by 2020, as per another study. The sad part is that the current situation of disposing plastic is not easy to explain. One cannot dispose of plastic like other forms of garbage. Plastic is strong, flexible and durable, making it extremely useful and hard-to-break. As useful as it might be, it does create harm to the environment by entering the oceans every day and staying there forever, becoming toxic 'food' for marine life. Plastic Waste Crisis'; var randomNumber = Math.random(); var isIndia = (window.geoinfo && window.geoinfo.CountryCode === 'IN') && (window.location.href.indexOf('outsideindia') === -1 ); console.log(isIndia && randomNumber The consumption of plastic has been increasing by 10 percent year-on-year but the disposal methods of plastic have not evolved and that makes the situation murky for us. Multiple factors add to the problem - for instance, theres no segregation at the waste source, many amongst us still use one bin for all kinds of waste. Lack of awareness about segregation leads to a bigger problem. Plastic makes up about eight percent of total solid waste in India, according to the government and this plastic comes from the use of single-use plastic such as bags, cutlery and straws alone. It is estimated that 80% of marine litter comes from land and this hotchpotch ends up in landfills. However, it should be considered that plastic itself is not that bad, but the way people dispense it, that creates a negative environmental impact. We all need to work towards changing this.

Simple Habits Need To Change

The problem is irresponsible human behavior in disposing of plastic. If recycled, plastic can be made to form recycled polyester which in turn is made to produce a number of things like shoes, T-shirts, bags, etc. thereby causing less strain on natural resources, then plastic has value. Every individual can contribute by making small changes in their consumption and dumping patterns. To begin with, lets follow these simple, basic rules:

Be The Change You Want To See

We all know how we have polluted our surroundings by neglecting the way we use and dispose of plastic. To improve the quality of living, we will have to go back to the basics we had all learned in school:

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Simple and effective- Best ways to dispose of plastic! - Times of India

Cell Biology

Transcriptional scanning in the sperm may regulate rate of human evolution – News-Medical.net

Maturing sperm cells turn on most of their genes, not to follow their genetic instructions like normal, but instead to repair DNA before passing it to the next generation, a new study finds.

Led by NYU Grossman School of Medicine researchers and published online January 23 in Cell, the study focuses on a mystery of biology: human sperm cells activate by far the largest number of genes (90 percent), a pattern also seen in other species like mice, birds, and even fruit flies. Cells in most organs express about 60 percent of their genetic code, or just the subset of genes needed for a cell type to do its particular job.

It now seems obvious that sperm activate so many more genes as they develop because doing so runs them through a DNA repair process, and protects the integrity of messages about to be inherited.

We also found that such repair in sperm is less active in genes that are activated, or transcribed, less often. This supports the theory that evolution is using transcription frequency as a lever, dialing it up to preserve the DNA code in some genes, but turning it down to enable changes elsewhere when it contributes to survival."

Itai Yanai, PhD, senior author, director of the Institute for Computational Medicine, professor in Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine

An example of genes not activated, not repaired, and free to accumulate changes in sperm were those related to immunity, which must continually evolve if the body is to recognize and attack ever-changing bacterial and viral invaders.

To conduct the new study, the authors analyzed gene expression patterns during sperm maturation at single-cell resolution. They first collected samples of human testes tissue, biopsied from consented volunteers. Using microfluidics, they then passed all cells in the samples down a tube just large enough for them to flow through in single file.

Within the tube each cell was pushed into its own water droplet, which acted like a mini-test tube in which enzymes opened the cells and then attached cell-specific barcodes to each transcribed snippet of genetic material. The labeled transcripts were then used to create maps of which genes were turned on at each point during sperm maturation. The team then cross-referenced these findings with known DNA variations in human population databases to estimate how often repair occurred in a given gene.

Surprisingly, researchers found that genes activated even a few times during sperm cell development contained 15-20 percent fewer DNA code errors than unexpressed genes, with the difference attributed to transcription-coupled repair (TCR). This process replaces faulty DNA patches just before the instructions they contain are converted into a related genetic material, RNA, during transcription, the first step in gene expression. RNA transcripts are then read to build proteins that make up cell structures and signals.

Cellular processes, including transcription, along with toxins in the environment, continually introduce errors into DNA chains, with TCR weeding out some of the altered code. The difference, the researchers say, is that sperm cells appear to apply TCR to more genes than is normal, but then to halt gene expression by mechanisms unknown before proteins are made.

Moving forward, the research team will seek to confirm whether sperm-derived genetic changes occur more often in genes not expressed during the maturation of sperm.

This may reveal insights into the causes of many genetic diseases linked to changes in the sperm of aging fathers. Male reproductive cells are known to divide and multiply throughout a person's life, with errors introduced each time. The authors say this may provide a rationale for the existence of widespread scanning uniquely in sperm, because egg cells received by each female in the womb do not multiply for the rest of her life.

Furthermore, the team will determine whether cells in the brain, which also express a large percentage of their genes, employ "transcriptional scanning" like sperm cells, and whether the scanning fails with age to increase risk for neurodegenerative diseases. Embryonic stem cells also display the high-transcription, low-mutation signature that could indicate the presence of such scanning during development.

"Survival of the fittest is a foundation of evolutional theory, but what if other mechanisms bias which gene types are more susceptible to change before natural selection can act on them?" asks first author Bo Xia, a PhD candidate in Yanai's lab. "Such a bias in the testes would have a dramatic effect, but only over evolutionary time scales, say millions of years."

Source:

Journal reference:

Xia, B., et al. (2020) Widespread Transcriptional Scanning in the Testis Modulates Gene Evolution Rates. Cell. doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2019.12.015.

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Transcriptional scanning in the sperm may regulate rate of human evolution - News-Medical.net

Biochemistry

Putting wildlife at top of agenda: Liz Bonnin talks ahead of Planet Earth II live show coming to Birmingham – shropshirestar.com

The series was announced by the BBC in 2013 and focused on Islands, Mountains, Jungles, Desserts, Grasslands and Cities. More than 11 million people tuned in.

Sir David Attenborough closed the series by saying: Now, over half of us live in an urban environment. My home, too, is here, in the city of London. Looking down on this great metropolis, the ingenuity with which we continue to reshape the surface of our planet is very striking. But its also sobering. It reminds me of just how easy it is for us to lose our connection with the natural world. Yet, its on this connection that the future of both humanity and the natural world will depend. And surely, it is our responsibility to do everything within our power to create a planet that provides a home not just for us, but for all life on Earth.

The series was described as being undoubtedly the greatest TV nature documentary to date and theres a strong case for it being one of the best TV series full stop. It won numerous awards and is now being recreated live in concert with Planet Earth Live II.

BBC Studios and the acclaimed BBC Natural History Unit has announced a UK & Ireland arena tour for Spring 2020. Fans can experience sensational footage from the BAFTA and EMMY award winning BBC series, with the show promising to bring audiences closer to the planets spellbinding animals, landscapes and wildlife dramas than ever before.

Following on from the recent success of the 2019 Blue Planet II Live In Concert tour, the live concerts will feature breathtaking, specially-selected footage shown in 4K ultra high-definition on a gigantic LED screen, as the City Of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Matthew Freeman, play the remarkable music by Oscar winner Hans Zimmer, Jacob Shea & Jasha Klebe for Bleeding Fingers Music.

The arena tour will visit Birminghams Resorts World Arena on April 3.

Zimmer is renowned for his work on the likes of Gladiator, Interstellar and Blade Runner 2049, but said that the landmark BBC series stood out amongst his work. Planet Earth II is one of the most amazing things Ive ever been involved in: some of the greatest action scenes ever put on film, some of the most emotional, epic, fragile scenes Ive ever witnessed. Filmmaking at its absolute peak.

In the spectacular live show, audiences across the UK will get to rub shoulders with our acrobatic primate cousins in the steaming jungles of Madagascar, race alongside fearsome hunting lions in the remote sandy deserts of Namibia, face stormy Antarctic seas with a family of penguins and feel the raw tension as a baby iguana tries to escape the clutches of deadly racer snakes. And they will no doubt tap their toes along with dancing grizzly bears and be swept away by the bravery of a mother snow leopard.

The Planet Earth II Live in Concert arena tour will be hosted by wildlife and natural history TV presenter Liz Bonnin. With a masters in wild animal biology, Bonnin has presented over 40 primetime programmes including Blue Planet Live, Super Smart Animals, Galapagos and Horizon.

With her recent landmark BBC One documentary Drowning in Plastic, she investigated the ocean plastic crisis, with her hard-hitting environmental reporting raising the level of public debate on this important topic. Bonnin also regularly speaks at and hosts science and natural history events across the country, including the National Science + Engineering Competition, the Natural History Museums Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards, New Scientist Live and Blue Dot Festival.

She said: I am so honoured to have the role of host on the Planet Earth II Live in Concert arena tour. The TV series included some absolutely breathtaking sequences who can ever forget the marine iguana fighting for its life as it escaped those racer snakes? I will be just as thrilled as the audience to relive such magnificent scenes on the giant screen, accompanied by a spectacular 80-piece orchestra it will certainly be an experience to remember.

Mat Way, Global Director, Live Entertainment at BBC Studios, added: After the very successful Blue Planet II tour we are delighted to partner with FKP Scorpio once again and bring Planet Earth II Live In Concert to the UK & Irish arenas, an incredible production bringing the BBCs ground breaking footage to the stage for fans to enjoy

Bonnin had always been interested in biology and chemistry at school, and she went on to study Biochemistry at University. After graduating, she started a career as a TV presenter working on such shows as BBC Ones Top of the Pops, before returning to her first love, science, and completing a Masters in Wild Animal Biology and Conservation. Bonnins main interests during her studies were animal behaviour and intelligence and big cat conservation. She set up and carried out a research project on the diet of tigers in Bardia National Park, Nepal, which saw her come first in her class.

Bonnins TV career has drawn heavily on her academic expertise. Recently, Bonnin has co-presented BBC Ones Blue Planet Live and the ground-breaking documentary Drowning in Plastic. She has also presented Should We Close Our Zoos in the latest series of Horizon and Big Animal Surgery, both for BBC Two.

She has previously been on our screens presenting the BBC One series Galapagos and Wild Alaska Live following the hugely successful Big Blue Live series in Monterey, California for the BBC, and for PBS in the USA.

Bonnin has also appeared in the series of Who Do You Think You Are? on BBC One and presented a wildlife series for BBC One about animal migrations called Natures Epic Journeys. Other TV credits include wildlife and animal behaviour programmes Super Smart Animals, Animals in Love, Animals through the Night: Sleepover at the Zoo, Operation Snow Tiger and Animal Odd Couples; science series Horizon, Stargazing Live and Bang Goes the Theory; documentaries Egypts Lost Cities, Museum of Life and Science Friction; and ITVs popular Countrywise.

In addition to her TV work, Bonnin has hosted various high profile events, including the UKs National Science and Engineering Competition Awards and the Natural History Museums prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards. She was also recently awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the British Science Association.

When I got the call to do this, I jumped at the chance. I was onboard immediately. Quite selfishly, Im looking forward to the experience myself just as much as other members of the audience will be.

The thought of seeing that footage on such a big screen and having a live 70-piece orchestra will be magnificent. Ive seen some of the programmes on big screen and its a complete game changer. For me, its a kind of spiritual experience. For people who dont work in wildlife, these creatures remind us of our connection to nature. Then to see that while hearing music from Hans Zimmer is emotional. Its one of those rare occasions where we can celebrate the plant and humanity itself.

Bonnins role is to take the audience by the hand and keep the talking to a minimum. She wants the music and visuals to work their magic.

So Ill put into context the scenes and Ill give them new unexpected information about the scenes. And then the exec producer of Planet Earth II will come on every now and then to give them insights into what it took the make the scene work. Therell be little fun facts and well have 16 sequences, some are compilations that weve prepared that work well together. Of course they include the racer snake and iguana. We have hummingbirds, penguins, snow leopards. Weve cherry picked stuff that lends itself to them.

Bonnin describes hosting the show as a dream gig. She fell into a career that she adores and hopes to effect change. I do feel theres a very good quote going round. If youre not part of the solution youre part of the problem. The younger generation are making their voices heard more loudly than mine. Considering whats happening to the planet we should all be environmentalists. My role is to spell out what conservationists are doing. So when Im making programmes like Drowning in Plastic, Im a human being who has to play a part in being part of the solution.

This concert plays a role in that. It will really move us all to feel inspired and feel motivated to play our part. I dont need to preach, the images will remind us of the magic of the wildlife. I want to leave the audience with messages of hope and inspiration. We can save our wildlife and ourselves and become better custodians.

Bonnin is a communicator who wants to spell out inconvenient truths. In addition to Planet Earth II Live, she has recently finished a documentary on the impact of meat production on our environment.

These are reminders that we need to think about how much we consume. Its about all of these resources that we take for granted.

Given her success, its remarkable that Bonnin didnt want to do TV. Its been a wonderful blessing but it wasnt part of the plan. Im extending myself without going back to school. I really hope some of my work opens peoples eyes as much as it did mine.

Bonnin grew up amid nature, living in the mountains in the south of France, above Nice. She played outdoors all the time and spotted hedgehogs and snakes and spiders. She fell in love with nature.

I was plonked in the middle of it. Nature worked its magic around me. I always wanted to understand how that everything worked, down to the smallest layer. When I discovered chemistry and biology and biochemistry in school, I was thrilled. You can understand everything down to the atoms. When I listen to the processes in the human body, you realise were extraordinary, the way cells do things is incredible.

I did a bit of telly after uni, then went back to school. After biochemistry neuro degenerative diseases was going to be my PHD. I had done some zoology by then and knew I was passionate about wanting to protect wildlife. My masters set me off on a different path.

Bonnin doesnt see her work as being a job. Instead, she feels very privileged to continue to learn from all the scientists and conservations working night and day to save our planet. I do a lot of talks in schools and its important to care and to play their role in protecting the planet. I feel very lucky to be doing it.

Theres never been a time in our history when people like Greta Thunberg and people who organise protests like Extinction Rebellion have not tried to make their voices heard. Theres a zeitgeist there and so people are more aware and more conscious than ever before.

Greta is a hero of mine, no question. She sat outside parliament in Sweden on her own and she has galvanised millions of people to make their voices heard. For the first time in human history on a global level we are impassioned enough to say enough is enough. I feel ashamed as an adult that young children are doing this. We should have taken better care of their future. Among all the pretty dire news about climate, plastic and biodiversity I am hugely inspired that the beauty of the human spirit can turn this around. But my God have we left it late.

Greta isnt Bonnins only hero. There are others she admires. Sir David Attenborough is my absolute hero. Sylvia Earle, the marine biologist and author, and Alexandra Cortez, a congresswoman in New York who ran with no corporate funding, are also heros. Alexandra is a powerhouse of a woman who stood by the strength of her convictions. Just like Bonnin.

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Putting wildlife at top of agenda: Liz Bonnin talks ahead of Planet Earth II live show coming to Birmingham - shropshirestar.com

Neuroscience

The clock is ticking and the time to green our labs is now! – The Irish Times

What is the main area of research in neuroscience?

I am interested in brain cells that become damaged during the autoimmune disorder multiple sclerosis. I am currently the lead PI (principal investigator) and co-ordinator of a 3.9 million EU-funded Innovative Training Network, which aims to develop a novel device for treating the late, progressive phase of MS.

The consortium will train 15 PhD students based in eight countries across Europe and five of these students are based in Cram, the SFI-funded Centre for Research on Medical Devices at NUI Galway.

You also lead the Galway Green Labs initiative how did you develop an interest in the environmental impact of labs?

I was inspired by a book that I read in 2018 called No. More. Plastic. by Martin Dorey. I immediately changed my shopping habits, I bought keep cups, reusable water bottles and life-long shopping bags. That was all very well, but once I walked through the labs at work, alarm bells started ringing, as I was witnessing and contributing to the wholesale disposal of large volumes of laboratory plastics on a daily basis.

What did you do next?

After doing some digging online, I discovered disturbing statistics about the impact of lab activities on the environment. For example, while the average Irish person generates 61kg of plastic per year, a study completed in the University of Exeter estimated that the average bench scientist generates around 1,000kg of plastic per year. In addition, labs can use 10 times more energy than office spaces.

How did you start to make your own lab greener?

By far the best road map that I found for implementing green lab practices is produced by mygreenlab.org a non-profit company whose mission is to create a culture of sustainability through science.

Its CEO, Allison Paradise, is a neuroscientist who left the lab in 2013 in order to set up the non-profit. She is an inspiring leader. One statistic she explained stuck out for me, which is that if just 2 per cent of lab plastics were diverted from landfill, it would offset carbon emissions equivalent to the planting of 100 million acres of rainforest. We found the Green Lab Certification programme run by MyGreenLab to be a great tool for defining and improving laboratory practices.

What practical steps were involved?

We registered our lab with MyGreenLab, which involved answering around 200 questions, covering 10 different aspects of lab activities: energy, water, lighting, waste, green chemistry, transport, recycling, cold storage, autoclaves and purchasing.

The lab was given an initial rating and, over the following six to eight months, our researchers and facilities managers collaborated with staff in MyGreenLab to improve scores and embed green lab practices within the workplace.

We were over the moon when we heard that our final rating was in the top-scoring band of green. On November 7th, the same day that I gave a talk about green labs at the Science Foundation Ireland Summit, our Cram lab at NUIG became the first lab in Europe to be Green Lab certified.

Congratulations! What would you say to others who are alarmed by the rising tide of single-use plastics and other consumables in the lab?

The clock is ticking and the time to green our labs is now! We hope to roll out the initiative across Ireland we have many labs across third-level institutions, public sector bodies, State and hospital facilities, and I think lab users and funders can play a huge role in making them greener.

To this end, I was delighted to have recently been invited to chair the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland working group that is focusing on greening public sector labs.

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The clock is ticking and the time to green our labs is now! - The Irish Times