Executive Summary:
- A recent meta-analysis published in Nature shows that of all the "drivers of global change" that damage ecosystems, biodiversity loss is the largest factor increasing the risk of outbreaks, followed by climate change and the introduction of alien species.
- Why did hunter-gatherers disappear in Europe? A research team composed of experts from a number of European research institutes published articles in Nature and PloS One magazines showing that some hunter-gatherers lived in or around farmers' communities and accepted farmers' culture and food. There were also hunter-gatherers who were slaughtered by peasant communities.
- Children with deafness who have mutations in the otofritin gene (OTOF, biallele) have a positive test in one ear. The research team led by Shu Yilai from the Eye and Otolaryngology Hospital of Fudan University made progress at the same time: in the first human trial of OTOF gene therapy conducted by his team, five of the six children treated recovered their hearing within one year.
Nature: Biodiversity loss is the biggest driver of infectious disease outbreaks
Over the past few decades, we have seen an increase in the frequency of emerging infectious disease events, most of which originate in wildlife. A recent meta-analysis published in Nature shows that of all the "drivers of global change" that damage ecosystems, biodiversity loss is the largest factor increasing the risk of outbreaks, followed by climate change and the introduction of alien species.
The authors' team reviewed nearly 1,000 studies that analyzed not only the severity and prevalence of diseases in plant, animal, and human hosts, but also focused on five global (covering all continents except Antarctica) environmental factors that drive emerging infectious diseases: biodiversity loss, climate change, chemical pollution, alien species, and habitat loss.
They found that in addition to habitat loss, four other factors contribute to increased disease transmission, and that they have the same impact on human and non-human diseases.
Humans tend to gravitate towards a specific type of habitat, and that is the city. The risk of emerging infectious diseases is generally lower in urban areas, in part due to better sanitation and less wildlife. Jason Rohr, corresponding author of the new paper and an expert in ecology and public health at the University of Notre Dame, said:
"In the concrete-filled environment of urban areas, where the number of species that thrive is very small, the sanitation and health infrastructure in cities is better than in rural areas from a human disease perspective."
In the wake of the pandemic, there has been increased concern about zoonotic diseases, with some experts believing that the virus originated in bats. In addition to the coronavirus, many of the infectious diseases that are currently alarming global health agencies – including swine flu and avian flu – have their origins in wildlife. Three-quarters of emerging human infectious diseases are zoonotic, meaning they can also infect wild and domestic animals.
On the other hand, the researchers also point out that many of the factors driving infectious diseases are interrelated, "for example, climate change and chemical pollution can lead to habitat loss and change, which in turn leads to biodiversity loss".
Measures such as reducing emissions, halting species extinctions, and controlling invasive species can all help reduce the burden of disease. "We hope this analysis will contribute to global disease control, mitigation and surveillance," Rohr et al. said. ”
Sources:
Biodiversity loss is biggest driver of infectious disease outbreaks, says study
Why did hunter-gatherers disappear in Europe?
European prehistoric hunter-gatherers lived in the area for thousands of years and dominated most of the time. But these people have since disappeared, and what has happened to them?
Scholars don't know why, but one thing is clear: the decline of hunter-gatherers coincided with the spread of agriculture in Europe; Neolithic farmers arrived in Europe about 8,000 years ago and shared the continent with hunters for a while, eventually "displaced" the "aborigines".
In early 2024, a research team composed of experts from several European research institutions published articles in Nature and PloS One, providing evidence that some hunter-gatherers lived in or around farmers' communities and embraced farmers' culture and diets. There were also hunter-gatherers who were slaughtered by peasant communities.
About 45,000 years ago, hunter-gatherers entered and settled in Europe in waves. Of course, most of the earliest groups did not survive, but some lucky latecomers eventually gained a foothold and flourished. Studies have shown that 10 to 15 percent of the DNA of modern Europeans comes from hunter-gatherers, most of which were provided by the last hunter-gatherers who spread out of Italy about 14,000 years ago.
About 8,000 years ago, peasant populations came to Europe from the Near East and brought domesticated plants and animals with them; Hunter-gatherers still mostly maintain their old way of life. Although the genes of the latter are gradually mixed into the peasant ethnic group, the two are still genetically very different.
The DNA of a 7,000-year-old male hunter-gatherer in Spain shows that he had blue eyes and dark skin, like most hunter-gatherers after 14,000 years ago, while European farmers at the time had lighter skin and darker eyes.
As farming communities grew, hunter-gatherers lost their land and eventually moved to the edge of Europe, living in areas that were not in direct competition with farmers.
According to the new Nature article, some hunter-gatherers ended up living in or around peasant communities, for example, a hunter-gatherer buried in present-day Denmark from about 5,800 years ago, whose burial goods belonged to the hunter-gatherer culture, but whose eating habits matched those of early European farmers, implying that he embraced the culture and diet of the peasants.
On the other hand, when farmers arrived about 5,900 years ago, Danish hunter-gatherers disappeared within a few generations, and some hunter-gatherer communities appear to have died at the hands of farmers, and there have been cases of new pathogens being infected with farmer livestock. Of course, these peasants were soon replaced by exotic semi-nomadic people (closely related to the Yannaya).
A new article published in the journal PLOS One shows that about 5,200 years ago, a peasant community in Denmark appeared to have violently slaughtered a male hunter-gatherer from Norway or Sweden in the form of sacrifice. However, the authors also point out that such ritual slaughter was not necessarily a punishment for hunter-gatherers, who could have been immigrants or traders who had attained equal social status in peasant communities, or they could have been captives or slaves.
Anders Fischer, a Danish archaeologist and one of the authors of both studies, said that European farmers had grown rapidly as they expanded, and that their attitude towards hunter-gatherers could have been that of "fighting if they disagreed."
资料来源：Why did Europe's hunter-gatherers disappear?
What is a cochlear implant? Gene editing therapy will soon be on the shelves
Opal Sandy with her mother, father and sister
Opal Sandy, a young child in the UK, suffers from a rare genetic disorder and is deaf at birth. At the age of 11 months, she received a groundbreaking gene therapy at her home in England. Now, at the age of 18 months, she has one ear that can hear without assistance.
This deaf baby is born with a mutation in the otoferrin gene (OTOF, biallelic gene). It is an extremely rare form of deafness that affects about 200,000 people worldwide.
Due to the OTOF mutation, the hair cells in Opal's cochlea are abnormally developed, making it difficult to amplify sound waves and convert the resulting information into signals that can be transmitted to the brain. This resulted in her suffering from "severe to extreme sensorineural hearing loss".
Currently, this type of deafness is mainly intervened with cochlear implants. Larry Lustig, an otolaryngologist at Columbia University in the United States, is involved in gene therapy for children. The treatment team uses DB-OTO, a harmless adeno-associated virus, as a vector to inject the healthy OTOF gene into the cochlea to replace the defective gene. So far, the treatment has been quite successful:
The child did not experience any side effects for 12 weeks after the end of treatment; The ear that received the injection received some hearing improvement. After more than six months, her hearing was getting stronger, she could hear soft whispers and even begin to speak – she became the youngest child to have received genetic therapy for hereditary deafness.
At the recent ASGCT Annual Meeting, Lustig presented the case of Opal and another child with severe deafness who was 4 years old and experienced similar hearing improvements six weeks after treatment.
Around the same time, Shu Yilai, chief physician of the Eye and Otolaryngology Hospital affiliated to Fudan University, also released a progress report: in the first human trial of OTOF gene therapy conducted by his team, five of the six children treated regained their hearing within one year.
Like Lustig, Scheulai treats only one ear in all children – a safe precaution for such early trials. However, Dr. Shu and others have already started treatment for both ears. Following the publication of the one-year progress report, Dr. Shu also presented early data from five other patients who participated in the first binaural treatment trial (which has not yet been officially published): all patients recovered hearing in both ears and improved speech perception.
Sources:
More children gain hearing as gene therapy for profound deafness advances
Gene therapy breakthrough allows toddler born deaf to hear
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