Ageism in the time of COVID-19

In this article, we outline how the response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has the potential to fundamentally change how we think and feel about our own age, and how we think and feel about other age groups. Specifically, we outline how discourse surrounding the pandemic has strengthened the homogeneous view of older adults as vulnerable, has socially stigmatized being an older adult, and has exacerbated hostile and benevolent expressions of ageism. We explore the impact of these changing dynamics on intergenerational cohesion and relations, and propose that understanding theories of ageism will be essential for how we handle future pandemics in order to reduce the potential negative impact of crises on individuals as well as on communities and societies

Further Evidence of Early Development of Attention to Dynamic Facial Emotions: Reply to Grossmann and Jessen

Adults exhibit enhanced attention to negative emotions like fear, which is thought to be an adaptive reaction to emotional information. Previous research, mostly conducted with static faces, suggests that infants exhibit an attentional bias toward fearful faces only at around 7 months of age. In a recent study (Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 2016, Vol. 147, pp. 100–110), we found that 5-month-olds also exhibit heightened attention to fear when tested with dynamic face videos. This indication of an earlier development of an attention bias to fear raises questions about developmental mechanisms that have been proposed to underlie this function. However, Grossmann and Jessen (Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 2016, Vol. 153, pp. 149–154) argued that this result may have been due to differences in the amount of movement in the videos rather than a response toemotional information. To examine this possibility, we tested a new sample of 5-month-olds exactly as in the original study (Heck, Hock, White, Jubran, & Bhatt, 2016) but with inverted faces. We found that the fear bias seen in our study was no longer apparent with inverted faces. Therefore, it is likely that infants’ enhanced attention to fear in our study was indeed a response to emotions rather than a reaction to arbitrary low-level stimulus features. This finding indicates enhanced attention to fear at 5 months and underscores the need to find mechanisms that engender the development of emotion knowledge early in life

Editorial: Age-Based Stereotype Threat Effects on Performance Outcomes

Editorial on the Research Topic. Age-Based Stereotype Threat Effects on Performance Outcomes

Visual Scanning of Males and Females in Infancy

This study addressed the development of attention to information that is socially relevant to adults by examining infants\u27 (n = 64) scanning patterns of male and female bodies. Infants exhibited systematic attention to regions associated with sex-related scanning by adults, with 3.5-and 6.5-month-olds looking longer at the torso of females than males and longer at the legs of males than females. However, this pattern of looking was not found when infants were tested on headless bodies in Experiment 2, which suggests that infants\u27 differential gaze pattern in Experiment 1 was not due to low-level stimulus features, such as clothing, and also indicates that facial/head information is necessary for infants to exhibit sex-specific scanning. We discuss implications for models of face and body knowledge development

Roles of aquaporins in Setaria viridis stem development and sugar storage

Setaria viridis is a C4 grass used as a model for bioenergy feedstocks. The elongating internodes in developing S. viridis stems grow from an intercalary meristem at the base, and progress acropetally toward fully expanded cells that store sugar. During stem development and maturation, water flow is a driver of cell expansion and sugar delivery. As aquaporin proteins are implicated in regulating water flow, we analyzed elongating and mature internode transcriptomes to identify putative aquaporin encoding genes that had particularly high transcript levels during the distinct stages of internode cell expansion and maturation. We observed that SvPIP2;1 was highly expressed in internode regions undergoing cell expansion, and SvNIP2;2 was highly expressed in mature sugar accumulating regions. Gene co-expression analysis revealed SvNIP2;2 expression was highly correlated with the expression of five putative sugar transporters expressed in the S. viridis internode. To explore the function of the proteins encoded by SvPIP2;1 and SvNIP2;2, we expressed them in Xenopus laevis oocytes and tested their permeability to water. SvPIP2;1 and SvNIP2;2 functioned as water channels in X. laevis oocytes and their permeability was gated by pH. Our results indicate that SvPIP2;1 may function as a water channel in developing stems undergoing cell expansion and SvNIP2;2 is a candidate for retrieving water and possibly a yet to be determined solute from mature internodes. Future research will investigate whether changing the function of these proteins influences stem growth and sugar yield in S. viridis.Samantha A. McGaughey, Hannah L. Osborn, Lily Chen, Joseph L. Pegler, Stephen D. Tyerman, Robert T. Furbank, Caitlin S. Byrt and Christopher P. L. Gro

The MOSDEF Survey: Kinematic and Structural Evolution of Star-Forming Galaxies at 1.4≤z≤3.81.4\leq z\leq 3.8

We present ionized gas kinematics for 681 galaxies at $z\sim 1.4-3.8$ from the MOSFIRE Deep Evolution Field survey, measured using models which account for random galaxy-slit misalignments together with structural parameters derived from CANDELS Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging. Kinematics and sizes are used to derive dynamical masses. Baryonic masses are estimated from stellar masses and inferred gas masses from dust-corrected star formation rates (SFRs) and the Kennicutt-Schmidt relation. We measure resolved rotation for 105 galaxies. For the remaining 576 galaxies we use models based on HST imaging structural parameters together with integrated velocity dispersions and baryonic masses to statistically constrain the median ratio of intrinsic ordered to disordered motion, $V/\sigma_{V,0}$. We find that $V/\sigma_{V,0}$ increases with increasing stellar mass and decreasing specific SFR (sSFR). These trends may reflect marginal disk stability, where systems with higher gas fractions have thicker disks. For galaxies with detected rotation we assess trends between their kinematics and mass, sSFR, and baryon surface density ($\Sigma_{\mathrm{bar},e}$). Intrinsic dispersion correlates most with $\Sigma_{\mathrm{bar},e}$ and velocity correlates most with mass. By comparing dynamical and baryonic masses, we find that galaxies at $z\sim 1.4-3.8$ are baryon dominated within their effective radii ($R_E$), with Mdyn/Mbaryon increasing over time. The inferred baryon fractions within $R_E$, $f_{\mathrm{bar}}$, decrease over time, even at fixed mass, size, or surface density. At fixed redshift, $f_{\mathrm{bar}}$ does not appear to vary with stellar mass but increases with decreasing $R_E$ and increasing $\Sigma_{\mathrm{bar},e}$. For galaxies at $z\geq2$, the median inferred baryon fractions generally exceed 100%. We discuss possible explanations and future avenues to resolve this tension.Comment: Accepted to ApJ. Added Figure 9, corrected sample size (main results unchanged). 28 pages, 13 figure

An altered secretome is an early marker of the pathogenesis of CLN6 Batten disease

Neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses (NCLs) are a group of inherited childhood neurodegenerative disorders. In addition to the accumulation of auto-fluorescent storage material in lysosomes, NCLs are largely characterised by region-specific neuroinflammation that can predict neuron loss. These phenotypes suggest alterations in the extracellular environment—making the secretome an area of significant interest. This study investigated the secretome in the CLN6 (ceroid-lipofuscinosis neuronal protein 6) variant of NCL. To investigate the CLN6 secretome, we co-cultured neurons and glia isolated from Cln6nclf or Cln6± mice, and utilised mass spectrometry to compare protein constituents of conditioned media. The significant changes noted in cathepsin enzymes, were investigated further via western blotting and enzyme activity assays. Viral-mediated gene therapy was used to try and rescue the wild-type phenotype and restore the secretome—both in vitro in co-cultures and in vivo in mouse plasma. In Cln6nclf cells, proteomics revealed a marked increase in catabolic and cytoskeletal-associated proteins—revealing new similarities between the pathogenic signatures of NCLs with other neurodegenerative disorders. These changes were, in part, corrected by gene therapy intervention, suggesting these proteins as candidate in vitro biomarkers. Importantly, these in vitro changes show promise for in vivo translation, with Cathepsin L (CTSL) activity reduced in both co-cultures and Cln6nclf plasma samples post gene-therapy. This work suggests the secretome plays a role in CLN6 pathogenesis and highlights its potential use as an in vitro model. Proteomic changes present a list of candidate biomarkers for monitoring disease and assessing potential therapeutics in future studies

Managing grassland for wildlife: the effects of rotational burning on tick presence and abundance in African savannah habitat

Ticks are obligate blood-feeding ectoparasites that have negative effects on animals through blood loss and vectoring disease. Controlling ticks is a major aspect of wildlife management in many areas, including African savannah where ticks are a long-standing problem. Rotational burning of vegetation is widely thought to reduce ticks but empirical data are lacking. We investigate the effect of block rotational burning on tick populations in a South African wildlife reserve. We measured tick presence/abundance using tick drags in multiple blocks of five different burn ages (areas burned 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 years previously). We also assessed herbivore diversity using dung as a proxy. Tick presence was highest in areas burned 2-3 years previously. It was lowest in recently-burned areas (probably due to fire-induced mortality or loss of field-layer refugia) and areas burned ≥ 4 years previously (probably because the lack of palatable grass meant herbivore abundance was lower; this is supported by significantly lower herbivore presence in old burns and significant positive correlation between tick numbers and herbivore presence). Burn age and, to a lesser extent, block, were significantly related to tick presence and abundance at both larval and nymph stages. The model that best explained tick numbers, though, included the interaction between burn age and block due to substantial inter-block variability in mid-burn blocks relative to lower variability in blocks at the start or end of the burn cycle. This suggests that burn age and block-specific conditions together influence tick abundance, with habitat heterogeneity likely being an important modifier of the effect burning has on tick numbers. Although annual burning of large areas would not be feasible while maintaining suitable grazing, we suggest that additional annual burning of potential wildlife (and therefore tick) hotspots, such as around waterholes, could reduce tick populations and improve wildlife management

Safety and immunogenicity of ChAdOx1 85A prime followed by MVA85A boost compared with BCG revaccination among Ugandan adolescents who received BCG at birth: a randomised, open-label trial

Background BCG confers reduced, variable protection against pulmonary tuberculosis. A more effective vaccine is needed. We evaluated the safety and immunogenicity of candidate regimen ChAdOx1 85A–MVA85A compared with BCG revaccination among Ugandan adolescents. Methods After ChAdOx1 85A dose escalation and age de-escalation, we did a randomised open-label phase 2a trial among healthy adolescents aged 12–17 years, who were BCG vaccinated at birth, without evident tuberculosis exposure, in Entebbe, Uganda. Participants were randomly assigned (1:1) using a block size of 6, to ChAdOx1 85A followed by MVA85A (on day 56) or BCG (Moscow strain). Laboratory staff were masked to group assignment. Primary outcomes were solicited and unsolicited adverse events (AEs) up to day 28 and serious adverse events (SAEs) throughout the trial; and IFN-γ ELISpot response to antigen 85A (day 63 [geometric mean] and days 0–224 [area under the curve; AUC). Findings Six adults (group 1, n=3; group 2, n=3) and six adolescents (group 3, n=3; group 4, n=3) were enrolled in the ChAdOx1 85A-only dose-escalation and age de-escalation studies (July to August, 2019). In the phase 2a trial, 60 adolescents were randomly assigned to ChAdOx1 85A–MVA85A (group 5, n=30) or BCG (group 6, n=30; December, 2019, to October, 2020). All 60 participants from groups 5 and 6 were included in the safety analysis, with 28 of 30 from group 5 (ChAdOx1 85A–MVA85A) and 29 of 30 from group 6 (BCG revaccination) analysed for immunogenicity outcomes. In the randomised trial, 60 AEs were reported among 23 (77%) of 30 participants following ChAdOx1 85A–MVA85A, 31 were systemic, with one severe event that occurred after the MVA85A boost that was rapidly self-limiting. All 30 participants in the BCG revaccination group reported at least one mild to moderate solicited AE; most were local reactions. There were no SAEs in either group. Ag85A-specific IFN-γ ELISpot responses peaked on day 63 in the ChAdOx1 85A–MVA85A group and were higher in the ChAdOx1 85A-MVA85A group compared with the BCG revaccination group (geometric mean ratio 30·59 [95% CI 17·46–53·59], p<0·0001, day 63; AUC mean difference 57 091 [95% CI 40 524–73 658], p<0·0001, days 0–224). Interpretation The ChAdOx1 85A–MVA85A regimen was safe and induced stronger Ag85A-specific responses than BCG revaccination. Our findings support further development of booster tuberculosis vaccines. Funding UK Research and Innovations and Medical Research Council. Translations For the Swahili and Luganda translations of the abstract see Supplementary Materials section