Tag Archives: environment

Neuroscience

Anthrobots: Tiny Biobots From Human Cells Heal Neurons – Neuroscience News

Summary: Researchers developed Anthrobots, microscopic biological robots made from human tracheal cells, demonstrating potential in healing and regenerative medicine.

These self-assembling multicellular robots, ranging from hair-width to pencil-point size, show remarkable healing effects, particularly in neuron growth across damaged areas in lab conditions.

Building on earlier Xenobot research, this study reveals that Anthrobots can be created from adult human cells without genetic modification, offering a new approach to patient-specific therapeutic tools.

Key Facts:

Source: Tufts University

Researchers at Tufts University and Harvard Universitys Wyss Institute have created tiny biological robots that they call Anthrobots from human tracheal cells that can move across a surface and have been found to encourage the growth of neurons across a region of damage in a lab dish.

The multicellular robots, ranging in size from the width of a human hair to the point of a sharpened pencil, were made to self-assemble and shown to have a remarkable healing effect on other cells. The discovery is a starting point for the researchers vision to use patient-derived biobots as new therapeutic tools for regeneration, healing, and treatment of disease.

The work follows from earlier research in the laboratories of Michael Levin, Vannevar Bush Professor of Biology at Tufts UniversitySchool of Arts & Sciences, and Josh Bongard at the University of Vermont in which they created multicellular biological robots from frog embryo cells calledXenobots, capable of navigating passageways, collecting material,recording information, healing themselves from injury, and evenreplicating for a few cycleson their own.

At the time, researchers did not know if these capabilities were dependent on their being derived from an amphibian embryo, or if biobots could be constructed from cells of other species.

In the current study, published inAdvanced Science, Levin, along with PhD student Gizem Gumuskaya discovered that bots can in fact be created from adult human cells without any genetic modification and they are demonstrating some capabilities beyond what was observed with the Xenobots.

The discovery starts to answer a broader question that the lab has posedwhat are the rules that govern how cells assemble and work together in the body, and can the cells be taken out of their natural context and recombined into different body plans to carry out other functions by design?

In this case, researchers gave human cells, after decades of quiet life in the trachea, a chance to reboot and find ways of creating new structures and tasks.

We wanted to probe what cells can do besides create default features in the body, said Gumuskaya, who earned a degree in architecture before coming into biology.

By reprogramming interactions between cells, new multicellular structures can be created, analogous to the way stone and brick can be arranged into different structural elements like walls, archways or columns.

The researchers found that not only could the cells create new multicellular shapes, but they could move in different ways over a surface of human neurons grown in a lab dish and encourage new growth to fill in gaps caused by scratching the layer of cells.

Exactly how the Anthrobots encourage growth of neurons is not yet clear, but the researchers confirmed that neurons grew under the area covered by a clustered assembly of Anthrobots, which they called a superbot.

The cellular assemblies we construct in the lab can have capabilities that go beyond what they do in the body, said Levin, who also serves as the director of the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts and is an associate faculty member of the Wyss Institute. It is fascinating and completely unexpected that normal patient tracheal cells, without modifying their DNA, can move on their own and encourage neuron growth across a region of damage, said Levin.

Were now looking at how the healing mechanism works, and asking what else these constructs can do.

The advantages of using human cells include the ability to construct bots from a patients own cells to perform therapeutic work without the risk of triggering an immune response or requiring immunosuppressants. They only last a few weeks before breaking down, and so can easily be re-absorbed into the body after their work is done.

In addition, outside of the body, Anthrobots can only survive in very specific laboratory conditions, and there is no risk of exposure or unintended spread outside the lab. Likewise, they do not reproduce, and they have no genetic edits, additions or deletions, so there is no risk of their evolving beyond existing safeguards.

How Are Anthrobots Made?

Each Anthrobot starts out as a single cell, derived from an adult donor. The cells come from the surface of the trachea and are covered with hairlike projections called cilia that wave back and forth. The cilia help the tracheal cells push out tiny particles that find their way into air passages of the lung.

We all experience the work of ciliated cells when we take the final step of expelling the particles and excess fluid by coughing or clearing our throats. Earlier studies by others had shown that when the cells are grown in the lab, they spontaneously form tiny multicellular spheres called organoids.

The researchers developed growth conditions that encouraged the cilia to face outward on organoids. Within a few days they started moving around, driven by the cilia acting like oars. They noted different shapes and types of movement the first. important feature observed of the biorobotics platform.

Levin says that if other features could be added to the Anthrobots (for example, contributed by different cells), they could be designed to respond to their environment, and travel to and perform functions in the body, or help build engineered tissues in the lab.

The team, with the help of Simon Garnier at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, characterized the different types of Anthrobots that were produced. They observed that bots fell into a few discrete categories of shape and movement, ranging in size from 30 to 500 micrometers (from the thickness of a human hair to the point of a sharpened pencil), filling an important niche between nanotechnology and larger engineered devices.

Some were spherical and fully covered in cilia, and some were irregular or football shaped with more patchy coverage of cilia, or just covered with cilia on one side. They traveled in straight lines, moved in tight circles, combined those movements, or just sat around and wiggled. The spherical ones fully covered with cilia tended to be wigglers.

The Anthrobots with cilia distributed unevenly tended to move forward for longer stretches in straight or curved paths. They usually survived about 45-60 days in laboratory conditions before they naturally biodegraded.

Anthrobots self-assemble in the lab dish, said Gumuskaya, who created the Anthrobots. Unlike Xenobots, they dont require tweezers or scalpels to give them shape, and we can use adult cells even cells from elderly patients instead of embryonic cells. Its fully scalablewe can produce swarms of these bots in parallel, which is a good start for developing a therapeutic tool.

LittleHealers

Because Levin and Gumuskaya ultimately plan to make Anthrobots with therapeutic applications, they created a lab test to see how the bots might heal wounds. The model involved growing a two-dimensional layer of human neurons, and simply by scratching the layer with a thin metal rod, they created an open wound devoid of cells.

To ensure the gap would be exposed to a dense concentration of Anthrobots, they created superbots a cluster that naturally forms when the Anthrobots are confined to a small space. The superbots were made up primarily of circlers and wigglers, so they would not wander too far away from the open wound.

Although it might be expected that genetic modifications of Anthrobot cells would be needed to help the bots encourage neural growth, surprisingly the unmodified Anthrobots triggered substantial regrowth, creating a bridge of neurons as thick as the rest of the healthy cells on the plate.

Neurons did not grow in the wound where Anthrobots were absent. At least in the simplified 2D world of the lab dish, the Anthrobot assemblies encouraged efficient healing of live neural tissue.

According to the researchers, further development of the bots could lead to other applications, including clearing plaque buildup in the arteries of atherosclerosis patients, repairing spinal cord or retinal nerve damage, recognizing bacteria or cancer cells, or delivering drugs to targeted tissues. The Anthrobots could in theory assist in healing tissues, while also laying down pro-regenerative drugs.

Making New Blueprints, Restoring Old Ones

Gumuskaya explained that cells have the innate ability to self-assemble into larger structures in certain fundamental ways.

The cells can form layers, fold, make spheres, sort and separate themselves by type, fuse together, or even move, Gumuskaya said.

Two important differences from inanimate bricks are that cells can communicate with each other and create these structures dynamically, and each cell is programmed with many functions, like movement, secretion of molecules, detection of signals and more. We are just figuring out how to combine these elements to create new biological body plans and functionsdifferent than those found in nature.

Taking advantage of the inherently flexible rules of cellular assembly helps the scientists construct the bots, but it can also help them understand how natural body plans assemble, how the genome and environment work together to create tissues, organs, and limbs, and how to restore them withregenerative treatments.

Author: Mike Silver Source: Tufts University Contact: Mike Silver Tufts University Image: The image is credited to Gizem Gumuskaya, Tufts University

Original Research: Open access. Motile Living Biobots Self-Construct from Adult Human Somatic Progenitor Seed Cells by Michael Levin et al. Advanced Science

Abstract

Motile Living Biobots Self-Construct from Adult Human Somatic Progenitor Seed Cells

Fundamental knowledge gaps exist about the plasticity of cells from adult soma and the potential diversity of body shape and behavior in living constructs derived from genetically wild-type cells.

Here anthrobots are introduced, a spheroid-shaped multicellular biological robot (biobot) platform with diameters ranging from 30 to 500microns and cilia-powered locomotive abilities.

Each Anthrobot begins as a single cell, derived from the adult human lung, and self-constructs into a multicellular motile biobot after being cultured in extra cellular matrix for 2 weeks and transferred into a minimally viscous habitat.

Anthrobots exhibit diverse behaviors with motility patterns ranging from tight loops to straight lines and speeds ranging from 550micronss1. The anatomical investigations reveal that this behavioral diversity is significantly correlated with their morphological diversity.

Anthrobots can assume morphologies with fully polarized or wholly ciliated bodies and spherical or ellipsoidal shapes, each related to a distinct movement type. Anthrobots are found to be capable of traversing, andinducing rapid repair of scratches in, cultured human neural cell sheets in vitro.

By controlling microenvironmental cues in bulk, novel structures, with new and unexpected behavior and biomedically-relevant capabilities, can be discovered in morphogenetic processes without direct genetic editing or manual sculpting.

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Anthrobots: Tiny Biobots From Human Cells Heal Neurons - Neuroscience News

Dermatology

Discovery of hemoglobin in the epidermis sheds new light on our … – EurekAlert

image:

Hemoglobin (magenta) in mouse hair follicles during the growth phase of hair cycles.

Credit: Umi Tahara, Takeshi Matsui, Keitaro Fukuda, and Masayuki Amagai

Philadelphia, November 17, 2023 Researchers have shown for the first time that hemoglobin, a protein found in red blood cells where it binds oxygen, is also present in the epidermis, our skin's outermost body tissue. The study, which appears in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, published by Elsevier, provides important insights into the properties of our skin's protective external layer.

This research was driven by a curiosity about how the epidermis protects our delicate body from the environment and what unexpected molecules are expressed in the epidermis. Researchers discovered the hemoglobin protein in keratinocytes of the epidermis and in hair follicles. This unexpected evidence adds a new facet to the understanding of the workings of our skin's defense mechanisms.

Lead investigator of the study Masayuki Amagai, MD, PhD, Department of Dermatology, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, and Laboratory for Skin Homeostasis, RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences, Yokohama, explains: "The epidermis consists of keratinized stratified squamous epithelium, which is primarily composed of keratinocytes. Previous studies have identified the expression of various genes with protective functions in keratinocytes during their differentiation and formation of the outer skin barrier. However, other barrier-related genes escaped prior detection because of difficulties obtaining adequate amounts of isolated terminally differentiated keratinocytes for transcriptome analysis."

Hemoglobin binds gases such as oxygen, carbon dioxide, and nitric oxide, and it is an iron carrier via the heme complex. These properties make epidermal hemoglobin a prime candidate for antioxidant activity and potentially other roles in barrier function.

Professor Amagai continues: "We conducted a comparative transcriptome analysis of the whole and upper epidermis, both of which were enzymatically separated as cell sheets from human and mouse skin. We discovered that the genes responsible for producing hemoglobin were highly active in the upper part of the epidermis. To confirm our findings, we used immunostaining to visualize the presence of hemoglobin protein in keratinocytes of the upper epidermis."

Professor Amagai concludes: "Our study showed that epidermal hemoglobin was upregulated by oxidative stress and inhibited the production of reactive oxygen species in human keratinocyte cell cultures. Our findings suggest that hemoglobin protects keratinocytes from oxidative stress derived from external or internal sources such as UV irradiation and impaired mitochondrial function, respectively. Therefore, the expression of hemoglobin by keratinocytes represents an endogenous defense mechanism against skin aging and skin cancer."

Journal of Investigative Dermatology

Experimental study

Cells

Keratinocytes of the Upper Epidermis and Isthmus of Hair Follicles Express Hemoglobin mRNA and Protein

17-Nov-2023

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Neuropathology

Eight scientists among most-cited researchers in world – Mirage News

Eight scientists from the University of Freiburg are among the "Highly Cited Researchers" for 2023. A survey by Clarivate Analytics reveals that they are among the most-frequently cited authors worldwide in their fields of research over the past decade. With nine entries - one scientist is recognised for work in two areas - the University of Freiburg holds fifth place among German universities alongside Bonn and Dsseldorf.

The University of Freiburg's Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources is represented in the list by Prof. Dr. Jrgen Bauhus and Prof. Dr. Carsten Dormann. Bauhus' research focuses on the structure and dynamics of forests, nutrient and carbon cycles in forests and ecological interactions in forest ecosystems. Dormann researches and develops statistical ecology methods that are used for example for the analysis of ecological networks.

Dr. Bjrn Grning from the Department of Computer Science is also among the Highly Cited Researchers. Grning is an expert in bioinformatics and heads Freiburg's Galaxy team. Galaxy is an open source platform for the analysis of big data in the life sciences.

Bjrn Grning, Bertram Bengsch, Marco Prinz, Carsten Dormann, Jrg Meerpohl, Jrgen Bauhus, Lukas Schwingshackl and Ori Staszewski. Photos: SFB 1425, Freiburg University Medical Center, Christian Hanner, Jrgen Gocke, Angela Schuberth-Ziehmer.

Five researchers from the Medical Faculty among the most-cited scientists

From the Medical Faculty at the University of Freiburg, the Highly Cited Researchers include Prof. Dr. Bertram Bengsch, Prof. Dr. Jrg Meerpohl, Prof. Dr. Marco Prinz, Prof. Dr. Lukas Schwingshackl, and Dr. Ori Staszewski, who is now a neuropathology consultant at Klinikum Saarbrcken. With the direct involvement of patients, Bengsch, from the Department of Internal Medicine II, undertakes research into the adaptive immune system in chronic disease, specifically virus infections, tumour diseases and diseases brought about by the autoimmune system. Meerpohl is the head of the Institute for Evidence in Medicine at the Freiburg University Medical Center. Together with his team, he develops new ways of making scientific findings accessible to doctors more clearly, more quickly and more convincingly in review papers.

Prinz is the head of the Institute of Neuropathology at the Freiburg University Medical Center, and was recognised as a Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate in two areas: in immunology and in the field of neural and behavioural sciences. Together with Staszewski, Prinz studies the role of the immune system in the healthy brain and its involvement in diseases such as multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's and brain tumours. They are both researching among other things the influence of nutrition and epigenetics on the formation of the immune system in the brain. Schwingshackl, senior researcher at the Institute for Evidence in Medicine and at Cochrane Germany, analyses studies into the influence of nutrition on health and develops new methods for future dietary guidelines.

About the list

Clarivate Analytics identifies the Highly Cited Researchers from an analysis of the most-cited papers in the Web of Science literature database. The list ranks the authors of research papers that are among the top one percent in their field in the Web of Science citations index. For 2023, the survey looked at papers that were published and cited in the period from January 2012 to December 2022. In total, the list includes more than 6,800 researchers from more than 1,300 institutions across 67 countries and regions.

View the list

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Eight scientists among most-cited researchers in world - Mirage News

Biochemistry

In the Locker Room with Katie Austin, Mia Brito, and Alaina Di Dio … – The Oberlin Review

Austin, Brito, and Di Dio pose for media day.

Katie Austin, Mia Brito, and Alaina Di Dio are fourth-years on the softball team in addition to being captains and housemates. Austin is a Chemistry and Biochemistry major from San Diego, Brito is a History major from Covina, CA, and Di Dio is a Psychology major from Whitmore Lake, MI.

Since softball is a spring sport, they do not participate in games in the fall except for Fall Ball, one day when the team can play up to three games. On Oct. 7, the team hosted Ursuline College, an NCAA Division II school, and lost 64.

We played a DII [team], but we were definitely able to hold our own, which was great, Brito said. We lost a few players from last year, so its taken us a while to see where all the pieces are going to be for this year. Especially after play day, we have a much clearer idea of how our defense is going to shape up, and its looking really good.

Throughout the fall the team is allotted a set number of practices, which start in early September. After these, the team then transitions to captains practices for the rest of the fall, led by Austin, Brito, and Di Dio. In addition, they lift two to three times a week.

The three housemates have all played softball for many years. Austin has been playing since elementary school.

It was the first sport I ever played and I just stuck with it because I like pitching so much, Austin said. [I] essentially [have] control on the mound and we just get to be outside with our friends. Its a good environment and it teaches you a lot. Ive learned so much about dedication and teamwork from travel ball and then playing in college, and it builds a really strong community.

Brito has been playing softball since she was four years old. She hasnt stopped playing because her mom never got the opportunity to continue playing after high school.

I really like it, but I mostly play because my mom didnt get to, Brito said. She had my brother when she was 17, [so] she had to quit. So, I keep playing for her.

Di Dio credits softball as her break from school, which motivated her to keep playing at Oberlin.

In high school and now, its a time to get away from academics and responsibilities, Di Dio said. Its like structured hanging-out time with your friends; its your favorite people and you get to see them every day. Our team is so close-knit.

In their house, the fourth-years have a cherished cone, a softball tradition. Each year, the softball fourth-years pass on a giant megaphone cone to the next group of fourth-years, with each graduating class signing the interior. Maria Roussos, OC 18, came back during homecoming and noticed the megaphone cone sitting in their living room.

She goes, I cannot believe you guys still have this cone, Di Dio said. And were like, What? Shes like, I started this when I was in school, when I was a [first-year]. One of her [fourth-years] gave it to her. When youre a [fourth-year], you sign the cone under the cone, theres a list of names from all these years past. She came and saw it in our house and shes like, I am so glad someone still has it. I thought itd be thrown away right now. But I like that you guys are keeping the tradition forward. You have to give it to the next house.

Outside of softball, the three are constantly busy with other extracurricular activities, which the team is incredibly supportive of. Over the summer, Brito had the opportunity to study in Japan through the Luce Initiative on Asian Studies and the Environment Grant as an East Asian Studies minor. When she did her LIASE presentation at the beginning of the school year, the team came and watched her present. When Di Dio presented at the Undergraduate Research Symposium last year, she received similar support from her teammates and coaches who came to her presentation.

Since her second year at Oberlin, Brito has worked at the Multicultural Resource Center and as a manager at the Dionysus Disco. Over the last year and a half, she has been working with 15 different minority student groups on an archive for minority student groups on campus. She has gotten the school to approve a digital database, which will be uploaded to the Oberlin College Library server, and a physical archive, which will be in Wilder Hall. After Oberlin, she plans to take a gap year on campus to continue working on this project. Later, she plans to go into information science and archiving with a focus on social justice, library science, and information access.

Theres not many schools that are doing that, Brito said. Im very excited.

Di Dio is a peer tutor for Psychology and Statistics classes as well as a PRSM trainer on campus. She has been in multiple labs and assisted Visiting Assistant Professor of Politics Adam J. Howat in formulating a study investigating political identity and affective polarization. She currently does research at the Michigan State University Twin Registry, where shes mainly focused on studying the etiology and development of externalizing behavior, specifically antisocial behavior. She presented her research in Spain at the annual meeting of the Behavior Genetics Association. Shes currently applying to Ph.D. programs in clinical science and psychology, where she hopes to continue her work or go into the field of behavioral genetics.

Austin does research in the Ryno Lab in the Biochemistry department, looking at changes in the transcriptome of arabinose-treated E. coli. This summer, she participated in a nuclear and radiochemistry summer school program at San Jose State University, where she learned about the basics of nuclear chemistry and visited the Livermore National Laboratory and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Now, shes looking at graduate schools for radiochemistry or biochemistry.

When asked about advice she would give to her first-year self, Austin was nostalgic about her time here.

Just enjoy the things that Oberlin has to offer, because its going by so quickly, Austin said. Its over already, and we have to cherish these last moments, like going to Long Island Night.

Di Dio believes that ones first-year and fourth-year selves are very different.

A lot changes between first year and fourth year, Di Dio said. You think you might have it figured out, but you dont roll with the changes.

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Biochemistry

Professor Yong Sik Ok becomes the first Korean President of the … – EurekAlert

image:

Prof. Yong Sik Ok was elected President of the International Society of Trace Element Biogeochemistry at the 16th International Conference on the Biogeochemistry of Trace Elements held in Wuppertal, Germany.

Credit: Professor Yong Sik Ok

Founded in Austria in 1999, the International Society of Trace Element Biogeochemistry (ISTEB) is a non-profit scientific organization of scientists and professionals who are interested in trace elements and key minerals research. The organization advances research on trace element biogeochemistry mainly through its flagship conference, the International Conference on the Biogeochemistry of Trace Elements or ICOBTE, which is held biannually.The ICOBTE is a world-renowned conference on trace elements, including key minerals such as cobalt, nickel, and manganese.

The highest governing body of the ISTEB, the Executive Board, is headed by the President of ISTEB, who also serves as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO). The Executive Board members and the President are chosen for a term of 2 years. At the 16th edition of ICOBTE, which was held in Wuppertal in Germany, Professor Yong Sik Ok was chosen as the next president of ISTEB. Professor Ok will assume office on the 1st of January 2024, thereby becoming the first Korean to serve as president of the society.

Professor Yong Sik Ok is the HCR Professor and Director at Korea University in Seoul. He is primarily interested in developing cutting-edge waste management strategies and sustainable technologies to reduce the environmental impact of pollution. He is a renowned and highly accomplished scientist and the only person to have been a Highly Cited Researcher (HCR) in three separate research fieldsEnvironment and Ecology, Engineering, and Biology and Biochemistry in 2022, according to Web of Science. Professor Ok wears many hats in an administrative capacity. He is the Director of the Sustainable Waste Management Program for the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), which is co-chaired with Prof. William Mitch from Stanford University. He is also the President of the International ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) Association (IESGA).

The ISTEB has held international conferences every two years in Taiwan (1993), France (1995), the United States (1997), Austria (1999), Canada (2001), Sweden (2003), Australia (2005), China (2007), Mexico (2009), Italy (2011), the United States (2013), Japan (2015), Switzerland (2017), and China (2019).

The 16th International ICOBTE conference (Chair: Prof. Jrg Rinklebe) in Germany was a joint affair with the 21st International Conference of Heavy Metals (ICHMET), which was attended by many renowned scientists and professionals from around the world. The event had a number of symbolic meanings, not least because it was held in Wuppertal, a former mining center and was patronized by the German Federal Minister of Education and Research, Bettina Stark-Watzinger. It also attracted international attention with the presence of Hendrik Wst, Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, and Professor Uwe Schneidewind, Lord Major of the Wuppertal City Council.

The ICOBTE seeks to advance our understanding of the movement and accumulation of trace elements across many levels in the ecosystem, such as soils, sediments, plants, water, air, organisms, and humans. Trace elements (metals and metalloids) play a crucial role in maintaining a healthy mineral composition in the environment. However, the mineral balance can be affected by natural processes like volcanic eruptions and, to a much greater degree, by human activities such as mining, smelting, electroplating, wastewater discharge, deposition of industrial fumes, etc.

Exposure to high amounts of trace elements can negatively affect the health of humans and the environment. Therefore, the discussions hosted by ICOBTE assume vital importance at a time when pollution and environmental degradation are at their peak. With Professor Ok, a researcher with considerable experience tackling pollution, at its helm, the ISTEB will have able guidance in hosting and directing critical conversations on the effects of pollution and trace elements on our environment.

The World Congress also announced that the 2025 ICOBTE-ICHMET will be held in Seoul.

As a world-renowned scholar in the field of sustainability and environmental studies, Prof. Yong Sik Ok is expected to further enhance the research capabilities and position of Korean scholars through this important role. Meanwhile, the International ESG Association (IESGA) and APRU Sustainable Waste Management Program will host the 6th International Conference on ESG Management and Sustainability at Korea University in November, where IUCN Director General and ISTEB President Prof. Jrg Rinklebe will participate in an in-depth discussion of various practical implications related to the environment and sustainability.

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.

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Pediatrics

American Association of Critical-Care Nurses Recognizes the Pediatric ICU at K. Hovnanian Children’s Hospital with … – Hackensack Meridian Health

The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) recently conferred a gold-level Beacon Award for Excellence on the Pediatric ICU at Hackensack Meridian Childrens Health K. Hovnanian Childrens Hospital, part of Jersey Shore University Medical Center. This accolade adds to quality recognitions K. Hovnanian Childrens Hospital has received in 2023. In June, K. Hovnanian, and Joseph M. Sanzari Childrens Hospital at Hackensack University Medical Center - filed jointly under a single program - were ranked #1 in New Jersey for the third year in a row by U.S. News & World Report.

The Beacon Award for Excellence a significant milestone on the path to exceptional patient care and healthy work environments recognizes unit caregivers who successfully improve patient outcomes and align practices with AACNs six Healthy Work Environment Standards. Units that achieve this three-year, three-level award with gold, silver or bronze designations meet national criteria consistent with the ANCC Magnet Recognition Program, the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and the National Quality Healthcare Award.

I commend the work of our pediatric ICU nurses and team members, said Ellen Angelo, DNP, MSN, R.N., CCRN, CENP, chief nursing officer, Jersey Shore University Medical Center. The gold-level Beacon Award is a welcomed confirmation of the compassionate, exceptional care they provide our youngest patients and community.

AACN President Terry Davis, PhD, R.N., NE-BC, CHTP, FAAN, applauds the exemplary efforts of the Pediatric ICU caregivers at K. Hovnanian Childrens Hospital for working together to meet and exceed the high standards set forth by the Beacon Award for Excellence. These dedicated healthcare professionals join other members of the exceptional community of nurses who set the standard for optimal patient care, Davis said. The Beacon Award for Excellence recognizes caregivers in stellar units whose consistent and systematic approach to evidence-based care optimizes patient outcomes. Units that receive this national recognition serve as role models to others on their journey to excellent patient and family care.

The senior leadership team and I are incredibly proud of our Pediatric ICU team and all of our nurses, said Vito Buccellato, MPA, LNHA, president and chief hospital executive, Jersey Shore University Medical Center. The Pediatric ICU team joins our Cardiac ICU in achieving gold-level Beacon awards this year. Recognitions that are so befitting of a six-time Magnet hospital, recognizing excellence in nursing.

The gold-level Beacon Award for Excellence signifies an effective and systematic approach to policies, procedures and processes that include engagement of staff and key stakeholders; fact-based evaluation strategies for continuous process improvement; and performance measures that meet or exceed relevant benchmarks.

Considering that our Pediatric ICU team cares for our most vulnerable patients, this is a wonderful acknowledgment for the team and highlights their dedication to providing the best care, Harpreet Pall, M.D., MBA, CPE, chair of Pediatrics, K. Hovnanian Childrens Hospital and Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine.

The Pediatric ICU team earned the gold award by meeting the following evidence-based Beacon Award for Excellence criteria:

K. Hovnanians Pediatric ICU is only the second in our state to receive gold-level, one of only 13 Pediatric ICUs in the U.S. to receive gold-level, and add to that, just 13 ICUs in our states 72 acute care hospitals have achieved gold-level Beacon Awards. In light of the rarity of this recognition, the dedication and expertise shown by the Pediatric ICU team is absolutely remarkable and deserves celebration, said Kenneth N. Sable, M.D., MBA, FACEP, regional president, Southern Market, Hackensack Meridian Health.

Four other Hackensack Meridian hospitals intensive care units have received silver awards, including Hackensack University Medical Center, Riverview Medical Center, Old Bridge Medical Center and Raritan Bay Medical Center. Recipients who earn a silver-level award demonstrate an effective approach to policies, procedures and processes that include engagement of staff and key stakeholders; evaluation and improvement strategies; and good performance measures when compared to relevant benchmarks.

For information about K. Hovnanian Childrens Hospital, visit http://www.hackensackmeridianhealth.org/en/locations/k-hovnanian-children-hospital. For a free physician referral, call 844-HMH-WELL.

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American Association of Critical-Care Nurses Recognizes the Pediatric ICU at K. Hovnanian Children's Hospital with ... - Hackensack Meridian Health

Human Behavior

Shimmying like electric fish is a universal movement across species – Earth.com

Navigating the world around us might seem like a complex task, but it turns out, we all have something in common with an electric knifefish. Whether its a dog sniffing around or a human glancing in a new setting, the core behavior of trying to understand ones surroundings remains the same.

Recent research reveals that such movements arent unique to humans or even larger animals. It extends across a wide spectrum of organisms, from single-celled amoeba to complex beings like us.

Amoeba dont even have a nervous system, and yet they adopt behavior that has a lot in common with a humans postural balance or fish hiding in a tube, said study co-author Noah Cowan, a professor of mechanical engineering at Johns Hopkins.

These organisms are quite far apart from each other in the tree of life, suggesting that evolution converged on the same solution through very different underlying mechanisms.

This fascinating discovery originated from a study that was focused on the workings of the nervous system during movement to enhance perception. Observations of the electric knifefish, a creature emitting weak electric discharges to sense its location, were key.

In darkness, the fish shimmied back and forth more frequently than in the light. The darkness made the fish increase their movement, mimicking a rapid explore mode to understand their environment better.

The concept of switching between an explore mode during uncertainty and an exploit mode when familiar with the environment isnt restricted to these fish.

We found that the best strategy is to briefly switch into explore mode when uncertainty is too high, and then switch back to exploit mode when uncertainty is back down, said study first author Debojyoti Biswas, a Johns Hopkins postdoctoral researcher.

Supported by a model simulating these key sensing behaviors, the team identified similar patterns in amoeba, moths, cockroaches, moles, bats, mice, and even humans.

Not a single study that we found in the literature violated the rules we discovered in the electric fish, not even single-celled organisms like amoeba sensing an electric field, said Cowan.

To further illustrate the ubiquitous nature of these movements, Cowan related it to everyday human behavior.

If you go to a grocery store, youll notice people standing in line will change between being stationary and moving around while waiting, said Cowan.

We think thats the same thing going on, that to maintain a stable balance you actually have to occasionally move around and excite your sensors like the knifefish. We found the statistical characteristics of those movements are ubiquitous across a wide range of animals, including humans.

Beyond just understanding the natural world, the implications of this research are vast. The findings have the potential to revolutionize robotics, especially in applications like search and rescue drones and space rovers.

Next, the experts will test whether their insights hold true for other living things, including plants.

Electric knifefish are a diverse group with over 200 species that are found primarily in Central and South America. These fish are known for their ability to generate electric fields, which they use for navigation, communication, and sometimes for capturing prey.

Electric knifefish have an organ that produces weak electric discharges. This is distinct from the strong electric discharges produced by electric eels, a different group of fish.

They use their electric field to sense their surroundings. Objects around them distort this field, and the fish can detect these distortions to understand their environment, much like a sonar.

Different species, and even individual fish, may have unique electric organ discharge patterns. This allows them to communicate and recognize each other.

They are primarily found in freshwater environments, especially in slow-moving or stagnant waters like swamps, ponds, and riverbanks.

Electric knifefish are typically nocturnal, using their electric fields to navigate in the darkness.

The study is published in the journal Nature Machine Intelligence.

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Human Behavior

Orcas are learning terrifying new behaviors. Are they getting smarter? – Livescience.com

In March 2019, researchers off the coast of southwestern Australia witnessed a gruesome scene: a dozen orcas ganging up on one of the biggest creatures on Earth to kill it. The orcas devoured huge chunks of flesh from the flanks of an adult blue whale, which died an hour later. This was the first-ever documented case of orca-on-blue-whale predation, but it wouldn't be the last.

In recent months, orcas (Orcinus orca) have also been spotted abducting baby pilot whales and tearing open sharks to feast on their livers. And off the coast of Spain and Portugal, a small population of orcas has begun ramming and sinking boats.

All of these incidents show just how clever these apex predators are.

"These are animals with an incredibly complex and highly evolved brain," Deborah Giles, an orca researcher at the University of Washington and the nonprofit Wild Orca, told Live Science. "They've got parts of their brain that are associated with memory and emotion that are significantly more developed than even in the human brain."

But the scale and novelty of recent attacks have raised a question: Are orcas getting smarter? And if so, what's driving this shift?

They've got parts of their brain that are associated with memory and emotion that are significantly more developed than even in the human brain.

It's not likely that orcas' brains are changing on an anatomical level, said Josh McInnes, a marine ecologist who studies orcas at the University of British Columbia. "Behavioral change can influence anatomical change in an animal or a population" but only over thousands of years of evolution, McInnes told Live Science.

Related: Scientists investigate mysterious case of orca that swallowed 7 sea otters whole

But orcas are fast learners, which means they can and do teach each other some terrifying tricks, and thus become "smarter" as a group. Still, some of these seemingly new tricks may in fact be age-old behaviors that humans are only documenting now. And just like in humans, some of these learned behaviors become trends, ebbing and flowing in social waves.

Frequent interactions with humans through boat traffic and fishing activities may also drive orcas to learn new behaviors. And the more their environment shifts, the faster orcas must respond and rely on social learning to persist.

There's no question that orcas learn from each other. Many of the skills these animals teach and share relate to their role as highly evolved apex predators.

Scientists described orcas killing and eating blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus) for the first time in a study published last year. In the months and years that followed the first attack in March 2019, orcas preyed on a blue whale calf and juvenile in two additional incidents, pushing the young blue whales below the surface to suffocate them.

This newly documented hunting behavior is an example of social learning, with strategies being shared and passed on from adult orcas to their young, Robert Pitman, a marine ecologist at Oregon State University's Marine Mammal Institute, told Live Science in an email. "Anything the adults learn will be passed along" from the dominant female in a pod to her offspring, he said.

Taking down a blue whale "requires cooperation and coordination," Pitman said. Orcas may have learned and refined the skills needed to tackle such enormous prey in response to the recovery of whale populations from whaling. This know-how was then passed on, until the orcas became highly skilled at hunting even the largest animal on Earth, Pitman said.

Some of the gory behaviors researchers have observed recently may actually be long-standing habits.

For instance, during the blue whale attacks, observers noted that the orcas inserted their heads inside live whales' mouths to feed on their tongues. But this is probably not a new behavior just a case of humans finally seeing it up close.

"Killer whales are like humans in that they have their 'preferred cuts of meat,'" Pitman said. "When preying on large whales, they almost always take the tongue first, and sometimes that is all they will feed on."

Tongue is not the only delicacy orcas seek out. Off the coast of South Africa, two males nicknamed Port and Starboard have, for several years, been killing sharks to extract their livers.

Killer whales are like humans in that they have their 'preferred cuts of meat.'

Although the behavior surprised researchers at first, it's unlikely that orcas picked up liver-eating recently due to social learning, Michael Weiss, a behavioral ecologist and research director at the Center for Whale Research in Washington state, told Live Science.

Related: Orcas attacked a great white shark to gorge on its liver in Australia, shredded carcass suggests

That's because, this year, scientists also captured footage of orcas slurping down the liver of a whale shark off the coast of Baja California, Mexico. The likelihood that Port and Starboard transferred their know-how across thousands of miles of ocean is vanishingly small, meaning liver-eating is probably a widespread and established behavior.

"Because there are more cameras and more boats, we're starting to see these behaviors that we hadn't seen before," Weiss said.

Orcas master and share more than hunting secrets. Several populations worldwide have learned to poach fish caught for human consumption from the longlines used in commercial fisheries and have passed on this information.

In the southern Indian Ocean, around the Crozet Islands, two orca populations have increasingly scavenged off longlines since fishing in the region expanded in the 1990s. By 2018, the entire population of orcas in these waters had taught one another to feast on longline buffets, with whole groups that previously foraged on seals and penguins developing a taste for human-caught toothfish.

Sometimes, orcas' ability to quickly learn new behaviors can have fatal consequences. In Alaska, orcas recently started dining on groundfish caught by bottom trawlers, but many end up entangled and dead in fishing gear.

"This behavior may be being shared between individuals, and that's maybe why we're seeing an increase in some of these mortality events," McInnes said.

Orcas' impressive cognitive abilities also extend to playtime.

Giles and her colleagues study an endangered population of salmon-eating orcas off the North Pacific coast. Called the Southern Resident population, these killer whales don't eat mammals. But over the past 60 years, they have developed a unique game in which they seek out young porpoises, with the umbilical cords sometimes still attached, and play with them to death.

Related: 'An enormous mass of flesh armed with teeth': How orcas gained their 'killer' reputation

There are 78 recorded incidents of these orcas tossing porpoises to one another like a ball but not a single documented case of them eating the small mammals, Giles said. "In some cases, you'll see teeth marks where the [killer] whale was clearly gently holding the animal, but the animal was trying to swim away, so it's scraping the skin."

The researchers think these games could be a lesson for young orcas on how to hunt salmon, which are roughly the same size as baby porpoises. "Sometimes they'll let the porpoise swim off, pause, and then go after it," Giles said.

Humans may indirectly be driving orcas to become smarter, by changing ocean conditions, McInnes said. Orca raids on longline and trawl fisheries show, for example, that they innovate and learn new tricks in response to human presence in the sea.

Human-caused climate change may also force orcas to rely more heavily on one another for learning.

In Antarctica, for instance, a population of orcas typically preys on Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) by washing them off ice floes. But as the ice melts, they are adapting their hunting techniques to catch leopard seals (Hydrurga leptonyx) and crabeater seals (Lobodon carcinophaga) two species that don't rely on ice floes as much and are "a little bit more feisty," requiring orcas to develop new skills, McInnes said.

While human behaviors can catalyze new learning in orcas, in some cases we have also damaged the bonds that underpin social learning. Overfishing of salmon off the coast of Washington, for example, has dissolved the social glue that keeps orca populations together.

"Their social bonds get weaker because you can't be in a big partying killer-whale group if you're all hungry and trying to search for food," Weiss said. As orca groups splinter and shrink, so does the chance to learn from one another and adapt to their rapidly changing ecosystem, Weiss said.

And while orcas probably don't know that humans are to blame for changes in their ocean habitat, they are "acutely aware that humans are there," McInnes said.

Luckily for us, he added, orcas don't seem interested in training their deadly skills on us.

Continued here:
Orcas are learning terrifying new behaviors. Are they getting smarter? - Livescience.com

Human Behavior

WashU Expert: Some parasites turn hosts into ‘zombies’ – The … – Washington University in St. Louis

From haunted houses to video games, movies and trick-or-treaters, zombies are everywhere this time of year. But zombies arent real or are they?

While the flesh-eating undead portrayed on television are just fiction, there are clear examples of parasites that have evolved to manipulate their hosts, often in ways that affect host behavior to favor parasite survival and spread, said Theresa Gildner, an assistant professor of biological anthropology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. Some even live inside the brains of their host eek!

One way parasites manipulate their host is through influencing the release of neurotransmitters the chemical messengers of the nervous system like dopamine, epinephrine, serotonin and other chemicals that directly impact mood and behavior, Gildner said.

Given how common parasites are in the world and how well they have evolved to manipulate us usually without the host knowing they are being influenced theres a chance many of us are already zombies, Gildner said.

Below, Gildner answers questions about parasitic infections including those that try to hijack the brains of their host and explains why its unlikely you will need that zombie apocalypse survival plan. Read on if you dare.

What are parasitic infections?

A parasite is typically defined as any organism that relies on a host for its essential nutrients, without any benefit to the host, and is therefore considered harmful. There are several types of parasites, including single-celled protozoas that cause Taxoplasmosis and malaria; helminths, parasitic worms like hookworm or tapeworms; and ectoparasites, parasitic species that live outside the human body, like ticks, fleas and lice.

Parasitic infections are extremely common globally, both for humans and animals. If you have a pet, youve probably given them flea or deworming medications to prevent parasite infections. But human parasitic disease is also still widespread, especially in low-resource communities that lack the resources and infrastructure to effectively prevent and treat infection.

With the exception of select parasitic diseases, like malaria, most are not lethal. However, these conditions often impair physical and cognitive function and result in suboptimal growth and development patterns. Overall, parasitic disease contributes to the perpetuation of structural health inequities, especially among marginalized communities where lack of access to key health determinants medical care, functional sanitation systems and adequate nutrition both increase parasite exposure and compound the negative impacts of infection.

Effective preventative measures usually linked with effective sanitation infrastructure as well as medical tests and treatments do exist for many parasite species, but not everyone has access to these resources, including in the United States. So, even though we have the tools to control parasitic disease in many cases, we are still nowhere near close to eradicating most.

Could parasitic infections cause a zombie apocalypse?

Host-manipulating parasites are real, but it seems unlikely that parasites will cause a zombie apocalypse on the scale of those on The Last of Us or The Walking Dead for a few reasons. First, in order to spread easily from person to person, the parasite would need to be specific and well adapted to human hosts. In reality, many parasites have relatively long, complex life cycles that involve spending part of their development in the environment and/or in another species besides humans to successfully mature and reproduce.

Second, for the scenarios depicted in these shows, the parasite would have to incapacitate or kill its host quickly following infection, but this is an ineffective strategy for most parasites since they need time to mature and reproduce in the human host. If the parasite infection was this fast and severe, the infected human might die before coming into contact with other potential hosts, preventing future transmission to new human hosts.

Third, along these same lines, an infection this serious would almost certainly be readily apparent to uninfected people, leading to disease prevention measures such as quarantine that decrease the risk of future spread. Many human parasites therefore seem to impact the human host in more subtle ways, so were typically able to go about our daily lives and unknowingly spread the parasite to other people over a longer period of time.

But examples of zombie-like behavior in animals do occur, right?

There are many examples of parasites that hijack the minds of infected animals and insects to achieve a very specific aim. One well-known mind-altering pathogen is rabies, which impacts mammals like dogs, raccoons and sometimes humans, making them more aggressive. Rabid animals are more likely to bite other animals and people, which allows transmission through the saliva. The virus has also been shown to make the host afraid of water, leading them to avoid consuming water, which might dilute viral load in saliva and reduce disease spread.

Another example is the trematodeDicrocoelium dendriticum, a type of parasitic worm. This parasite ultimately wants to get to a grazing animal so it can complete its life cycle and reproduce, but it must go through an intermediate host the ant to do this. The parasite affects the brains of ants, causing them to climb to the top of a blade of grass at night instead of returning to the ant colony. This behavior increases the likelihood that a grazing animal accidentally consumes the infected ant during the night while it is grazing.

Theres also the Hymenoepimecis argyraphaga, a parasitic wasp that infects spiders. Female wasps will first paralyze the spider and then lay an egg in its abdomen. The egg hatches and larva feeds on the spiders blood while the spider is still alive. The spider will behave normally for several days, but then the wasp larva injects a chemical into the spider that causes it to build a unique type of web and sit motionless in the middle. Then, the larva kills the spider host with poison, eats the spider and builds a cocoon in the middle of the web for protection until the adult wasp emerges and the cycle continues.

The Toxoplasma gondii parasite typically spreads between rodents and cats, although the CDC estimates that more than 40 million people are infected with Toxoplasmosis in the U.S. Generally, rodents become infected after consuming contaminated food or water. Once in the rodent intermediate host, the parasite continues to mature and forms cysts in the rodents tissue. Cats become infected after consuming infected rodent tissue. Mature parasites live inside cats. Infected cats also shed the parasite in their feces, where it continues to mature and become ineffective.

The interesting part of the Toxoplasma life cycle is that some of the parasite cysts form in the rodents brain, potentially concentrated in the part of the brain that regulates fear, some researchers believe. This directly affects rodent behavior, making them less fearful of cats. Some evidence suggests they might even be attracted to the smell of cat urine, rather than fearful, increasing their risk of encountering a cat and being consumed. This is ultimately the best outcome for the parasite: for the intermediate rodent host to be consumed so the parasite can get into a cat and complete its life cycle.

Well, this is terrifying!

The good news is that we have evolved with these parasitic species for a very long time, and our immune systems are generally effective at keeping infections in check. We also have many effective medical treatments available to help treat infection and many people in the world today have access to important resources such as clean water and food, sanitation systems and well-constructed houses that help shield them from serious infections.

However, parasites still infect millions of people around the world, so we still have a lot of work to do to make sure all people have access to the resources and infrastructure needed to prevent continual infection and related poor long-term health outcomes.

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Human Behavior

Human action pushing the world closer to environmental tipping … – Morung Express

Alison Kentish Inter Press Service

Melting mountain glaciers. Unbearable heat. An uninsurable future. Space debris. Groundwater depletion. Accelerating extinctions. The United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security said this week that these six environmental tipping points can have irreversible, catastrophic impacts for people and the planet.

The University released its 2023 Interconnected Disaster Risks Report on October 25. It states that climate change and human behavior are among the drivers of these tipping points.

Human actions are behind this rapid and fundamental change to the planet. We are introducing new risks and amplifying existing ones by indiscriminately extracting our water resources, damaging nature and biodiversity, polluting both Earth and space and destroying our tools and options to deal with disaster risk, it stated.

In terms of accelerated extinction, it states that the current species extinction rate dire at as much as hundreds of times higher than usual due to human action.

It says the life-saving resource groundwater, which is stored in reserves known as aquifers, is a source of water for over 2 billion people and is used overwhelmingly (around 70%) in the agriculture sector. It adds, however, that 21 of the worlds 37 major aquifers are being used faster than they can be replenished. In terms of space debris, while satellites make life easier for humanity, including providing vital information for early warning systems, only about one-quarter of the objects identified in orbit are working satellites. This means that satellites critical for weather monitoring and information are at risk of colliding with discarded metal, broken satellites, and other debris.

According to the report, climate change and increasing extreme weather events have resulted in skyrocketing insurance prices in some parts of the world. The report warns that rising coverage costs could mean an uninsurable future for many.

Another tipping point, unbearable heat, is a cause for major concern. The report states that, currently, around 30 percent of the global population is exposed to deadly climate conditions for at least 20 days per year, and this number could rise to over 70 percent by 2100.

And a warming earth is resulting in glaciers melting at twice the speed of the last two decades.

Report authors say the six risk areas of concern are interconnected, which means that going beyond the brink of any tipping point would heighten the risk and severity of others.

If we look at the case of space debris, it has to do with the practice of putting satellites into our orbit without regard for handling the debris that comes as a result. At present we are tracking around 34,000 objects in our orbit and only a quarter of these are active satellites. Were planning thousands more launches in the coming years. We may reach a point where it gets so crowded in our orbit that one collision can create enough debris to set off a chain reaction of collisions that could destroy our space infrastructure entirely, said Dr. Jack OConnor, Senior Scientist at UNU-EHS and Lead Author of the Interconnected Disaster Risks report.

We use satellites every day to monitor our world. For example, we observe weather patterns that can give us data to generate early warnings. We sometimes take these warnings for granted, but can you imagine if we pass this space debris tipping point and we are no longer able to observe weather patterns? Now a storm is coming to a populated area, and we cant see it coming, he said.

While the report is sobering, its authors are quick to point out that there is hope. Lead Author Dr Zita Sebesvari suggests using the tipping points interconnectivity as an advantage for finding solutions.

These tipping points share certain root causes and drivers. Climate change is cutting across at least four out of the six points. Therefore, decisive climate action and cutting our emissions can help to slow down or even prevent; accelerating extinction, unbearable heat, uninsurable future, and mounting glacier melting, she said.

The report was published just one month before the United Nations Climate Conference (COP28). Dr OConnor says the report can be instructive for policymakers.

I think the report is connected to the COP process. Reducing our emissions is key, and we will need to integrate this with other contributing factors such as global biodiversity loss.

The authors say passing these tipping points is not inevitable. They say the points are meant to spur action, to adequately plan for future risks, and to tackle the root causes of these serious issues.

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Human action pushing the world closer to environmental tipping ... - Morung Express