Publisher Health

An epigenetic study at the RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences shows that in mouse egg cells, modifications to histone H2A at lysine 119 lay the groundwork for inherited DNA functional modifications from the mother.
In books and the movies, a group of people on a special mission always sends out a scout to do reconnaissance before they proceed. Sometimes, the scouts leave signs or markers that allow the group to know where there should go. Researchers led by Azusa Inoue at the RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences in Japan have discovered a mark left behind in unfertilized egg cells that determine which DNA modifications will be inherited if the egg is fertilized. Specifically, they found that without initial modifications to histone H2A at lysine 119 — technically called H2AK119ub1 — later inheritable modifications would not occur. When allowed to develop, one consequence of this deficit was an enlarged placenta after embryo implantation. This study was published in Nature Genetics on April 5.
For many years we were taught in school that acquired traits were not inherited. In some sense this was correct; stretching your neck a lot to get food will not result in children with longer necks. However, your DNA function can be modified throughout your life. For example, DNA structure in chromosomes is supported by proteins called histones. When histones are modified, they can change how genes are expressed in the body. This is epigenetics, and a previous study by Inoue and colleagues showed that acquired tri-methylation of histone H3 at lysine 27 (thankfully abbreviate to H3K27me3) in mammalian egg cells can be inherited. In the new study, the team used technology called low-input CUT&RUN to begin answering the question of how this happens.
First, the researchers examined the timing of the two different histone modifications. They found that every gene exhibiting H3K27me3 also showed H2AK119ub1 in mouse egg cells. Suspecting its importance, the researchers knocked out two proteins that make up H2AK119ub1 in egg cells. Low-input CUT&RUN showed that the knock-out egg cells had much less H3K27me3 than controls at a subset of genes that normally bring H3K27me3 into the next generation. Thus, H2AK119ub1 acts like a kind of marker left by a scout, identifying where subsequent H3K27me3 should follow. “We discovered that H2AK119ub1 is necessary for maternal inheritance of H3K27me3, making the H2AK119ub1-H3K27me3 pathway a major player in transgenerational epigenetic inheritance in mammals,” says Inoue.
The researchers then found something they didn’t expect. Testing showed that the loss of H3K27me3 was itself inherited by fertilized embryos, and could not be reversed. Furthermore, this deficiency led increased lethality — miscarriages — and enlarged placentas. “It was surprising to find that defects in an egg’s histone modification are irreversibly inherited by embryos and cause long term consequences in development,” says Inoue.
The results thus showed that despite normal DNA in the mouse egg cell, if the proper instructions — first H2AK119ub1 and then H3K27me3 modifications — were missing, miscarriages and enlarged placentas could occur. These findings have clinical implications, especially for reproductive medicine and placental defects. “The next step,” says Inoue, “is to see whether any diseases or surrounding environments can affect the heritable histone modification.”
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As states open vaccines and restaurants to all, wait staff and food service workers are often left behind. Some chefs have even opened pop-up spots to get their employees shots more quickly.Over the course of the pandemic, some of the most dangerous activities were those many Americans dearly missed: scarfing up nachos, canoodling with a date or yelling sports scores at a group of friends at a crowded, sticky bar inside a restaurant.Now, as more states loosen restrictions on indoor dining and expand access to vaccines, restaurant — who have morphed from cheerful facilitators of everyone’s fun to embattled frontline workers — are scrambling to protect themselves against the new slosh of business.“It’s been really stressful,” said Julia Piscioniere, a server at Butcher & Bee in Charleston. “People are OK with masks, but it is not like it was before. I think people take restaurants and their workers for granted. It’s taken a toll.”The return to economic vitality in the United States is led by places to eat and drink, which also suffered among the highest losses in the last year. Balancing the financial benefits of a return to regular hours with worker safety, particularly in states where theoretical vaccine access outstrips actual supply, is the industry’s latest hurdle.In many states, workers are still unable to get shots, especially in regions where they were not included in priority groups this spring. Immigrants, who make up a large segment of the restaurant work force, are often fearful of signing up, worrying that the process will legally entangle them.Some states have dropped mask mandates and capacity limits inside establishments — which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still deem a potentially risky setting — further endangering employees.“It is critical for food and beverage workers to have access to the vaccine, especially as patrons who come have no guarantee that they will be vaccinated and obviously will not be masked when eating or drinking,” said Dr. Alex Jahangir, the chairman of a coronavirus task force in Nashville. “This has been a major concern for me as we balance the competing interests of vaccinating everyone as soon as possible before more and more restrictions are lifted.”Servers in Texas are dealing with all of the above. The state strictly limited early eligibility for shots, but last week opened access to all residents 16 and over, creating an overwhelming demand for slots. The governor recently dropped the state’s loosely enforced mask mandate, and allowed restaurants to go forth and serve all comers, with zero limitations.“Texas is in a unique position because we have all these things going on,” said Anna Tauzin, the chief revenue and innovation officer of the Texas Restaurant Association.Michael Shemtov, owner of Butcher and Bee in Charleston, S.C., spoke to a television reporter during a vaccination drive at his restaurant. “If people can’t get appointments, let’s bring them to them,” he said.Ben ChrismanThe trade group is pairing with a health care provider to set aside days at mass vaccines sites in the state’s four biggest cities to target industry workers.The industry has taken matters in its own hands in other places, too.In Charleston, Michael Shemtov, who owns several spots, turned a food hall into a restaurant worker vaccine site on a recent Tuesday with the help of a local clinic. (The post-shot observation seating was at the sushi place; celebratory beers were tipped at an adjoining pizzeria.) Ms. Piscioniere and her partner eagerly availed themselves. “I am super relieved,” she said. “It’s been so hard to get appointments.”In Houston, Legacy Restaurants — which owns the Original Ninfa’s and Antone’s Famous Po’ Boys — is running two vaccine drives for all staff members and their spouses, moves the owners believe will protect workers and assure customers.Some cities and counties are also tackling the problem. Last month, Los Angeles County set aside the majority of appointments for five mass sites two days a week for the estimated 500,000 workers in the food and agriculture industries — half of whom are restaurant staff. In Nashville, the health department has opted to set aside 500 spots daily for the next week specifically for people in the food and hospitality industries. It is possible that restaurants will be able to require their workers be vaccinated in the future.Many business sectors were battered by the coronavirus pandemic, but there is broad agreement that hospitality was hardest hit and that low wage workers sustained some of the biggest blows. In February 2020, for instance, restaurant worker hours were up 2 percent over a previously strong period the year before; two months later those hours were cut by more than half.While hours and wages have recovered somewhat, the industry remains hobbled by rules that most other businesses — including airlines and retail stores — have not had to face. The reasons point to a sadly unfortunate reality that never changed: indoor dining, by nature of its actual existence, helped spread the virus.Tyler Cahill, 29, received his first Pfizer vaccine shot at Workshop, a food court in Charleston.Ben ChrismanA recent report by the C.D.C. found that after mask and other restrictions were lifted, on-premise restaurants led to daily increase in cases and death rates between 40 and 100 days later. Although other settings have turned into super-spreading events — funerals, wedding and large indoor events — many community outbreaks have found their roots in restaurants and bars.“Masks would normally help to protect people in indoor settings but because people remove masks when dining,” said Christine K. Johnson, professor of epidemiology and ecosystem health at the University of California, Davis, “there are no barriers to prevent transmission.”Not all governments have viewed restaurant workers as “essential,” even as restaurants have been a very active part of the American food chains — from half-open sites to takeout operations to cooking for those in need — during the entire pandemic. The National Restaurant Association helped push the C.D.C. to recommend that food service workers be included in priority groups of workers to get vaccines although not all states followed the guidelines.Almost every state in the nation has accelerated its vaccination program, targeting nearly all adult populations.“Most people in our government have considered restaurants nonessential luxuries,” said Rick Bayless, the well-known Chicago restaurateur, whose staff scoured all vaccines sites for weeks to get workers shots. “I think that’s shortsighted. The human race is at its core social and when we deny that aspect of our nature, we do harm to ourselves. Restaurants provide that very essential service. It can be done safely, but to minimize the risk for our staff, we should be prioritized for vaccination.”Texas did not designate as early vaccine recipients any workers beyond those in the health care and education sectors, but is now open to all.“The state leadership decided to ignore our industry as a whole as well as grocery workers,” said Michael Fojtasek, the owner of Olamaie in Austin. “Now because our state leadership has decided to lift a mask mandate while not giving us an opportunity to be vaccinated, it has created this really challenging access issue.” He has switched to a takeout sandwich business for now, and won’t reopen until every worker gets a shot, he said.Jade Fletcher, a server at the County Line in Austin. “I think it is important for them to be vaccinated,” Don Miller, the owner, said of his staff.Ilana Panich-Linsman for The New York TimesMany restaurant owners, however, said that they are going their own way with the rules, and customers often lead them there. “There is a lot of shaming that goes on if you open up and you don’t have your tables six feet apart,” said Don Miller, the owner of the County Line, a small chain in Texas and New Mexico.Moreover, his places continue to require masks and keep them at the hostess station for anyone who “forgets.” Most of his young work force, however, will likely wait a long time for a jab. “I think it is important for them to be vaccinated,” he said. “It hasn’t resonated with them as it hasn’t been available to that age group.”The restaurant industry has many more Latino immigrant workers than most other businesses, and some fear registration for the vaccine is complicating reopenings. Many workers at Danielle Leoni’s Phoenix restaurant, the Breadfruit and Rum Bar, declined unemployment insurance, and have shied from signing up for a shot. “Before you can even make an appointment you have to put in your name and date of birth and email,” Ms. Leoni said. “Those are questions that are deterrents for people trying to keep a low profile.”In Charleston, Mr. Shemtov was inspired by accounts of the immunization program in Israel, which was considered successful in part because the government took vaccines to job sites. “If people can’t get appointments, let’s bring them to them.”Other restaurants are devoting hours to making sure workers know how to sign up, locating leftover shots and networking with their peers. Some offer time off for a shot and the recovery period for side effects.“We don’t want them to have to choose between an hour or pay of a vaccine,” said Katie Button, the owner of Curate and La Bodega in Asheville, N.C.Still, some owners are not taking chances. “If we go out of business because we are one of the few restaurants in Arizona that won’t reopen, so be it,” Ms. Leoni said. “Nothing is more important than someone else’s health or safety.”

An international research team has sequenced the genomes of the oldest securely dated modern humans in Europe who lived around 45,000 years ago in Bacho Kiro Cave, Bulgaria. By comparing their genomes to the genomes of people who lived later in Europe and in Asia the researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, show that this early human group in Europe contributed genes to later people, particularly present-day East Asians. The researchers also identified large stretches of Neanderthal DNA in the genomes of the Bacho Kiro Cave people, showing that they had Neanderthal ancestors about five to seven generations back in their family histories. This suggests that mixture with Neanderthals was the rule rather than the exception when the first modern humans arrived in Europe.
Last year, a research team led by researchers from the National Institute of Archaeology with Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Germany, reported the discovery of modern human remains found in direct association with the Initial Upper Palaeolithic stone tools at the site of Bacho Kiro Cave in Bulgaria. The oldest individuals found in the cave were directly radiocarbon dated to between 43,000 and 46,000 years ago. They are thus the earliest known dispersal of modern humans across the mid-latitudes of Eurasia.
Mateja Hajdinjak and colleagues have now sequenced the genomes of five individuals found at the Bacho Kiro Cave. Four individuals are between 43,000 to 46,000-years-old and were found together with stone tools belonging to the Initial Upper Palaeolithic, the earliest culture associated with modern humans in Eurasia. An additional individual found in the cave is around 35,000-years-old and found with stone tools of a later type. It was previously thought that bearers of the Initial Upper Palaeolithic died out without contributing genetically to modern humans arriving later. However, the researchers now show that the oldest Bacho Kiro Cave individuals, or groups closely related to them, contributed genes to present-day people. Surprisingly, this contribution is found particularly in East Asia and the Americas rather than in Europe where the Bacho Kiro Cave people lived. These genetic links to Asia mirror the links seen between the Initial Upper Palaeolithic stone tools and personal ornaments found in Bacho Kiro Cave and tools and ancient jewelry found across Eurasia to Mongolia.
Genetic differences between individuals
Importantly, the later 35,000-year-old individual found in Bacho Kiro Cave belonged to a group that was genetically distinct from the earlier inhabitants of the cave. This shows that the earliest history of modern humans in Europe may have been tumultuous and involved population replacements.
The earliest people at Bacho Kiro Cave lived at a time when Neanderthals were still around. The researchers therefore scanned their genomes for fragments of Neanderthal DNA. “We found that the Bacho Kiro Cave individuals had higher levels of Neanderthal ancestry than nearly all other early humans, with the exception of a 40,000-year-old individual from Romania. Crucially, most of this Neanderthal DNA comes in extremely long stretches. This shows that these individuals had Neanderthal ancestors some five to seven generations back in their family trees” says Mateja Hajdinjak.
Although only a handful of genomes from modern humans who lived at the same time in Eurasia as some of the last Neanderthals have been recovered, nearly all of them have recent Neanderthal ancestors. “The results suggest that the first modern humans that arrived in Eurasia mixed frequently with Neanderthals. They may even have become absorbed into resident Neanderthal populations. Only later on did larger modern human groups arrive and replace the Neanderthals” says Svante Pääbo, who coordinated the genetic research.
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Worldwide 39 percent of the adults were overweight in 2016, according to statistics of the World Health Organization. In the US the prevalence of obesity was 42.4 percent in 2017/2018, according to a survey of the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).
Concurrently millions of people want to lose weight. Physical exercise is an important option to achieve this. After all, more calories are consumed through sport than when sitting, standing or lying down.
But what influence does sport have on (direct) eating habits? Scientists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the University of Nebraska (USA) have now investigated this question for the first time.
Randomized study
“In the sports context, we have the phenomenon of people overeating after physical activity,” said Prof. Köhler, Professor of Exercise, Nutrition and Health at the Technical University of Munich. “People want to reward themselves and their bodies for being active. So we use a hypothetical experiment to find out why people eat more after exercise compared to when they don’t exercise.”
The aim of a randomized crossover study was to investigate the influence of exercise on hypothetical decisions regarding the amount and timing of food intake. For this purpose, 41 healthy participants (23 women, 18 men) aged between 19 and 29 years with an average BMI of 23.7 were randomly assigned to either a 45-minute exercise session or a rest period of equal duration at the first visit and completed the other study condition at the second visit.

New research has for the first time compared images of the protein spikes that develop on the surface of cells exposed to the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to the protein spike of the SARS-CoV-19 coronavirus. The images show that the spikes are highly similar to those of the virus and support the modified adenovirus used in the vaccine as a leading platform to combat COVID-19.
The SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, has a large number of spikes sticking out of its surface that it uses to attach to, and enter, cells in the human body. These spikes are coated in sugars, known as glycans, which disguise parts of the viral proteins to the human immune system.
The vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca is an adenovirus-vectored vaccine, which involves taking a safe version of a virus and adding in the information from part of a pathogen, in this case the SAR-CoV-2 spike, in order to generate neutralising antibodies against that target.
In this new study, published in the journal ACS Central Science, scientists from the University of Oxford and the University of Southampton, worked together to characterise the SARS-CoV-2 spikes manufactured by the cells presented with the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. The Oxford work was led by Professors Teresa Lambe, Peijun Zhang and Sarah Gilbert and Professor Max Crispin led the work in Southampton.
The Scientists exposed a range of cells in vitro to the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. Using an imaging technique known as cryo-electron microscopy (cryoEM) they took thousands of images which they then combined to build up a clear picture of the resulting protein spikes on the cells. Professor Peijun Zhang, of the University of Oxford and the Electron Bio-Imaging Centre (eBIC) at Diamond Light Source, who led the imaging work said, “CryoEM is an immensely powerful technique which enabled us to visualise the dense array of spikes that had been manufactured and presented on the surface of the cells.”
Further chemical analysis of the glycans that coat the newly developed protein spikes revealed that they bear a high resemblance to those surrounding the SARS-CoV-2 spikes. This is an essential feature of the vaccine as it means that it can deliver close mimics of the coronavirus that are important in triggering the immune response needed to protect against COVID-19.
Professor Crispin said, “In this study we set out to see how closely the vaccine induced spikes resembled those of the infectious virus. We were really pleased to see a large amount of native-like spikes.”
“This study will hopefully provide further understanding for the public, helping them see how the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine works. Many people may not realise how their cells become little factories manufacturing viral spikes that then trigger the immune response needed to fight off the disease. This may also provide reassurance that the vaccine is doing its job and generating the material that we need to present to our immune systems.”
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A 104-year-old Colombian woman has received a standing ovation from hospital staff after recovering from Covid-19 for a second time. Carmen Hernandez was first diagnosed with coronavirus in June 2020, and she was treated in her San Jose nursing home. The second time, she was admitted to intensive care and spent 21 days in hospital – until she was discharged on Monday.

Ever since the early humans learned to walk upright, they have suffered, as an unfortunate consequence of their erect posture, from low back pain. Modern understanding on this matter dictates that low back pain, in particular, is caused due to a postural instability resulting from poor “proprioception,” which is a term for the perception of part of our body’s own position in space. In fact, our trunk and lower legs are key to maintaining postural stability due to the presence of “proprioceptors” — sensory receptors responding to position and movement — in those areas.
Elderly people suffering from low back pain tend to have poorly performing proprioceptors, which is thought to affect their “proprioceptive control strategy” — a postural control strategy in response to vibratory stimulations as proprioceptive input. Interestingly, studies have suggested that a local vibratory stimulation can, in fact, improve proprioceptive function. In previous studies by other researchers, however, its effect on postural control is still unclear. Moreover, the studies make no distinction between poor and healthy proprioceptors and do not take into account the fact that each proprioceptor has a natural vibration response frequency.
To address these issues, a team of researchers from Japan recently conducted a study in which they explored the effect of local vibratory stimulations on the proprioceptive control strategy when applied to a poor proprioceptor. Prof. Yoshifumi Morita from Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan, who was part of the study, published in Electronics, lays down the research question: “For elderly people with low back pain, can proprioceptive function be improved? Will it cure the low back pain?”
Researchers carried out their study over a period of 3 months in which they recruited six elderly individuals, all of whom were patients with low back pain. Researchers made each participant stand on a balance board to assess their standing balance and attached fasteners with vibrators to their legs as well as both sides of their trunk. They then generated vibration signals using a PC and amplified and output them from the vibrators as mechanical vibratory stimulations. Furthermore, they allowed the frequency of stimulation to vary with time, from an initial 20 Hz (cycles/second) up to 300 Hz, to gauge the postural response as a function of the applied frequency. Finally, they compared the proprioceptive control strategy in each patient before and after applying the stimulations to an impaired proprioceptor.
Three patients showed an improvement in their proprioceptive control strategy after their impaired muscle spindles (proprioceptor detecting stretch in muscles) responded to higher frequency, an observation that suggested that low back pain could be alleviated in patients by activating impaired proprioceptors with vibratory stimulations. Furthermore, the treatment device and protocol could be used for multiple frequency ranges, allowing for the diagnosis as well as activation of a poor proprioceptor.
Given the results, the researchers look forward to conducting a clinical trial for a larger group of patients. “The clinical trial is scheduled to start in April this year and will be conducted for the next three years. We plan to verify whether the improved proprioceptive sensation can be maintained for a long time, thus relieving elderly people of low back pain,” comments an excited Prof. Morita.
The team hopes that the trial’s findings will soon lead to the commercialization of their device, which will allow elderly patients with low back pain to finally breathe a huge sigh of relief!
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On the surface, Parkinson’s disease — a neurodegenerative disorder — and melanoma — a type of skin cancer — do not appear to have much in common. However, for nearly 50 years, doctors have recognized that Parkinson’s disease patients are more likely to develop melanoma than the general population. Now, scientists report a molecular link between the two diseases in the form of protein aggregates known as amyloids.
The researchers will present their results today at the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS). 
“Several studies have shown that melanoma occurs two to six times more frequently in the Parkinson’s population than the healthy population,” says Dexter Dean, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), who is presenting the work at the meeting. “What’s more, the protein involved in Parkinson’s disease, α-synuclein, is elevated in melanoma cells.”
In Parkinson’s disease, α-synuclein forms amyloid deposits that are thought to kill dopamine-producing neurons in the brain, causing symptoms such as tremor, slow movements and dementia. While intense research has focused on the effects of α-synuclein in the brain, much less is known about its presence or activities in other tissues. However, scientists have evidence that the amyloid-forming protein is expressed more in melanoma cells than in healthy skin. Furthermore, higher levels of α-synuclein in melanocytes (the skin cells that give rise to melanoma) correlate with reduced pigment, or melanin, production. Melanin protects skin from damage by the sun’s ultraviolet rays.
Jennifer Lee, Ph.D., Dean’s postdoctoral advisor at NHLBI, part of the National Institutes of Health, had previously studied another amyloid-forming protein called premelanosomal protein (Pmel). “Most people know that amyloids are involved in diseases, such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, but it’s less well-known that some amyloids, like Pmel, actually serve a useful function,” Lee says. In healthy melanocytes, Pmel forms amyloid fibrils that act as scaffolds to store melanin in melanosomes (the organelle where the pigment is produced, stored and transported). “Because both α-synuclein and Pmel are expressed in melanoma cells, we wondered if these two amyloid proteins could interact, and whether this interaction could be relevant to the correlation between Parkinson’s disease and melanoma,” Lee says.
To investigate whether α-synuclein and Pmel could interact, the researchers used microscopy and western blotting to show that the two proteins both resided in the melanosomes of human melanoma cells. When Dean added preformed α-synuclein amyloid to a test tube containing the amyloid-forming region of Pmel (known as the repeat, or RPT, domain), the α-synuclein fibrils stimulated Pmel to aggregate and form a twisted fibril structure that the protein does not normally adopt on its own.
Because α-synuclein in melanoma cells may also be found in its soluble, or non-amyloid, form, the researchers performed other in vitro experiments in which they added soluble α-synuclein to the Pmel RPT domain. In this case, α-synuclein inhibited Pmel’s ability to self-aggregate and form amyloid in a concentration-dependent manner. They traced this activity to the first 60 amino acids of α-synuclein.
“We now have preliminary data that suggest an amyloid from one protein can ‘seed’ or template amyloid from another, and in the soluble form, α-synuclein prevents Pmel aggregation.” Lee says. “Therefore, we think that both forms of α-synuclein could diminish melanin biosynthesis — the amyloid form by causing Pmel to form an unusual twisted structure, and the soluble form by stopping Pmel from aggregating like it should.” Loss of skin pigmentation could contribute to the increased melanoma risk in Parkinson’s disease patients, the researchers say.
“I think we’re just at the tip of the iceberg of appreciating what α-synuclein might be doing in melanoma,” Dean says. “In future experiments, I’m really interested in understanding more about what α-synuclein is doing to promote melanoma proliferation, in addition to this interaction with Pmel.”

A new scientific review has found there are significant gaps in our knowledge of how mammal populations are responding to climate change, particularly in regions most sensitive to climate change. The findings are published in the British Ecological Society’s Journal of Animal Ecology.
Nearly 25% of mammal species are threatened with extinction, with this risk exacerbated by climate change. But the ways climate change is impacting animals now, and projected to in the future, is known to be complex. Different environmental changes have multiple and potentially contrasting, effects on different aspects of animals’ lives, such as reproduction and survival (known as demographic rates).
A new review by a global team of researchers from 15 different institutions has found that most studies on terrestrial mammals only looked at one of these demographic rates at a time, potentially not showing the full picture of climate change impacts.
In a search of 5,728 terrestrial mammal species, the researchers found only 106 studies that looked at both survival and reproduction at the same time. This covered 87 species and constitutes less than 1% of all terrestrial mammals.
“Researchers often publish results on the effects of climate on survival or on reproduction — and not both. But only in rare cases does a climatic variable (say, temperature) consistently negatively or positively affect all studied rates of survival and reproduction.” said Dr Maria Paniw from the University of Zurich and lead author of the review.
For example, higher temperatures could decrease the number of offspring, but if the offspring have a better chance of survival because of less competition, the population size won’t necessarily be affected. On the other hand, if higher temperatures decrease both reproduction and survival, a study of only one of these could underestimate the effects on a population.

SharecloseShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingimage copyrightGetty ImagesA Covid vaccine being manufactured in Scotland has reported a 90% immune response in early trials.Biotech company Valneva tested its vaccine on 153 people and concluded it was safe and generally well tolerated.The company will move to phase three by testing up to 5,000 people, some of whom will be recruited in Scotland.UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said if approved, the vaccine would play an “important role” in protecting communities.Valneva, which manufactures its Covid vaccine at a plant in Livingston, said the results of their phase one/two study showed the vaccine was “highly immunogenic with more than 90% of all study participants developing significant levels of antibodies” to the Covid virus spike protein.Those who received a medium dose of the vaccine showed an 89.8% immune response, while people given a high dose showed a 100% response.The vaccine also induced T-cell responses, which help the body fend off a virus and play a role in long-lasting immunity.No safety concerns were identified by an independent data safety monitoring board.Valneva vaccine begins manufacturing in LivingstonModerna vaccine UK rollout begins in WalesHow does the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine work?Valneva’s chief financial officer David Lawrence told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme that the results were a “major milestone” and that the company had started commercial production.He said: “I think it’s down to the design of the vaccine that we’ve made – we’re following a very tried and tested technology.”Now that we’ve got our production up and running we can tweak the production process to put in a different variant – we started working with the original Wuhan strain, but we can put in a South African strain. “All of the trials we’re doing should remind people its important for people to volunteer and participate in clinical trials.”Mr Hancock said it was “fantastic” to see Valneva’s vaccine produces a “strong immune response”.He said: “This vaccine will be made onshore in Livingston in Scotland, giving another boost to British life science, and if approved will play an important role in protecting our communities.”I look forward to seeing the results of the upcoming phase three trial.”UK Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi described the results as “very promising” and said they provided renewed hope that a vaccine using a whole inactivated virus might provide strong protection against variants.AstraZeneca concernsIt comes as the UK’s medicines regulator launched an investigation into a possible link with the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine and rare blood clots in adults. It is expected to give an update on Wednesday along with the European medicines regulator.In the UK, 30 people have developed the clots – and seven have died as a result – out of 18 million people who have received the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.On Tuesday, the trial of the Oxford vaccine on children was paused as a precaution. Prof Andrew Pollard from the University of Oxford told the BBC there were no safety concerns with the trial itself, but its scientists were waiting for further information.Meanwhile the UK has begun the rollout of its third coronavirus vaccine, the Moderna jab, in Wales.It has not been confirmed when the rest of the UK will start using the jab, but Scotland received its first batch on Monday.RULES: What are the restrictions in your area?LOCKDOWN: Six months that changed our livesCASES: Where are the latest cases in Scotland?WHO? The people who have died with Covid-19