We All Depend on the Survival of Bees

In the film Fantastic Fungi by Louie Schwartzberg, amazing time lapse photography shows the growth of numerous kinds of fungi as they digest dead plant and animal material and in so doing enrich the earth.  Fungi, a separate form of life from plants and animals, have healing properties for the immune systems of animals, including humans, which are beginning to be researched.  The film, which stars the mycologist Paul Stamets, among others, has an important section on the use of fungi to help bees resist viruses in their hives.

According to a new paper from Washington State University (WSU), and colleagues at Fungi Perfecti, a mushroom extract fed to honey bees greatly reduces virus levels in their hives.  Colonies fed mycelium extract from amadou and reishi fungi showed a 79-fold reduction in deformed wing virus and a 45,000-fold reduction in Lake Sinai virus compare to control colonies. 

Mycelium is the vegetative part of a fungus consisting of a mass of branching, threadlike hyphae.  It penetrates deep into the soil.  Fungi Perfecti is a business dedicated to promoting the cultivation of high quality medicinal mushrooms.  Paul Stamets grows his mushrooms organically in the Pacific Northwest.  

"Our greatest hope is that these extracts have such an impact on viruses that they may help varroa mites become an annoyance for bees, rather than causing huge devastation," said Steve Sheppard, a WSU entomology professor and one of the paper's authors. "We're excited to see where this research leads us. Time is running out for bee populations and the safety and security of the world's food supply hinges on our ability to find means to improve pollinator health."

The research was published in the journal Scientific Reports.

At present, the mycelium extract isn't currently available in levels for beekeepers to purchase for their hives.

"We are ramping up production of the extracts as rapidly as is feasible, given the hurdles we must overcome to deploy this on a wide scale," Stamets added. "Those who are interested in being kept up to date, can sign up for more information at http://www.fungi.com."

Sheppard said he and his colleagues plan to do more work to refine their now-published results. That way beekeepers will have the best information when supplies are more available.

"A portion of this project was funded by USDA-NIFA project WNP00604.

 Journal Reference:

1.     Paul E. Stamets, Nicholas L. Naeger, Jay D. Evans, Jennifer O. Han, Brandon K. Hopkins, Dawn Lopez, Henry M. Moershel, Regan Nally, David Sumerlin, Alex W. Taylor, Lori M. Carris, Walter S. Sheppard. Extracts of Polypore Mushroom Mycelia Reduce Viruses in Honey Bees. Scientific Reports, 2018; 8 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-32194-8

 Chlorpyrifos  Another threat to honey bees and other forager bees is the insecticide chlorpyrifos.  Honey bees experience a learning and memory deficit after ingesting small doses of this insecticide, potentially threatening their survival, according to a study in New Zealand.  Chlorpyrifos is a highly neurotoxic organophosphate pesticide used worldwide on crops to protect against insects and mites.

The effects of this insecticide on animals and humans has been widely studied since the 1970s. Chlorpyrifos affects living things to various degrees: it is very toxic to birds and insects, including bees, quite toxic to fish, and also toxic to humans. Home use of chlorpyrifos was banned in 2000, when Dow withdrew it from the market voluntarily, though it is still found in insect baits. Golf courses still combat pests with it, and it is also
used by farmers on nearly 50 crops—many of which we consume, like oranges—and in cattle ear tags.  Farmworkers are exposed, and pregnant farmworkers may have lasting damage to their children.  Recent studies of small children have found a link between chlorpyrifos and lower IQ and developmental problems
Hawaii is the first state to ban Chlorpyrifos.  California should follow suit.  Contact your congressperson, senators and governor Gavin Newsom to ban this highly toxic chemical.  

Sadja Greenwood, MD, MPH

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New and Important News on Sleep

Researchers at Bar-lian University in Israel have identified a function of sleep that can explain why humans as well as all other animals with a nervous system spend a significant portion of their lives in sleep. Even Invertebrates such as flies, worms and jellyfish sleep.  The reason why animals sleep – despite the threat of predators, has been considered one of the biggest questions in life sciences.

In a new study, published in March, 2019 in the journal Nature Communications, researchers at Bar-Ilan University in Israel reveal a novel and unexpected function of sleep that they believe could explain how sleep and sleep disturbances affect brain performance, aging and various brain disorders.

Using 3D time-lapse imaging techniques in live zebrafish, the researchers were able to define sleep in a single chromosome resolution and show, for the first time, that single neurons require sleep in order to perform nuclear maintenance.  DNA damage can be caused by many processes including radiation, oxidative stress, and even neuronal activity.  DNA repair systems within each cell correct this damage. The current work shows that during wakefulness, when chromosome dynamics are low, DNA damage consistently accumulates and can reach unsafe levels.

The role of sleep is to increase chromosome dynamics, and normalize the levels of DNA damage in each single neuron. Apparently, this DNA maintenance process is not efficient enough during the online wakefulness period and requires an offline sleep period with reduced input to the brain in order to occur. "It's like potholes in the road," says Prof. Lior Appelbaum of Bar-Ilan University. "Roads accumulate wear and tear, especially during daytime rush hours, and it is most convenient and efficient to fix them at night, when there is light traffic."

Appelbaum calls the accumulation of DNA damage the "price of wakefulness." He and his doctoral student David Zada, first author of the study, as well as co-authors, Dr. Tali Lerer-Goldshtein, Dr. Irina Bronshtein, and Prof. Yuval Garini, hypothesized that sleep consolidates and synchronizes nuclear maintenance within individual neurons, and set out to confirm this theory.

Their discovery was achieved thanks to the characteristics of the zebrafish model. With their absolute transparency, and a brain very similar to humans, zebrafish are a perfect organism in which to study a single cell within a live animal under physiological conditions. Using a high -resolution microscope, the movement of DNA and nuclear proteins within the cell -- inside the fish -- can be observed while the fish are awake and asleep. The researchers were particularly surprised to find that chromosomes are more active at night, when the body rests, but this increased activity enables the efficiency of the repair to DNA damage. 

The results establish chromosome dynamics as a potential marker for defining single sleeping cells and propose that the restorative function of sleep is nuclear maintenance. "We've found a causal link between sleep, chromosome dynamics, neuronal activity, and DNA damage and repair with direct physiological relevance to the entire organism," says Prof. Appelbaum. "Sleep gives an opportunity to reduce DNA damage accumulated in the brain during wakefulness."

"Despite the risk of reduced awareness to the environment, animals -- ranging from jellyfish to zebrafish to humans -- have to sleep to allow their neurons to perform efficient DNA maintenance, and this is possibly the reason why sleep has evolved and is so conserved in the animal kingdom.”

Journal Reference:

1  D. Zada, I. Bronshtein, T. Lerer-Goldshtein, Y. Garini, L. Appelbaum. Sleep increases chromosome dynamics to enable reduction of accumulating DNA damage in single neurons. Nature Communications, 2019; 10 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-08806-w

 ScienceDaily. 5S 5 March 2019. 

The take-home message of this column is that we should find a way to sleep every night until we feel refreshed and rested.  We can’t put it off until the weekend and get the daily needed brain repair.  Going to bed earlier could be an answer for many people.  Zzzzzzzz  Read the news on sleep and heart disease in the previous column on this website.

Sadja Greenwood M.D., MPH

Sleep and Heart Disease

A recent study from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), published in the journal Nature, shows how getting enough sleep protects against heart disease. Insufficient sleep increases the production of inflammatory white blood cells that are known to be major contributors of atherosclerosis – the deposition of plaques of fatty material on the inner walls of arteries.  Sleep helps to regulate the production in the bone marrow of these inflammatory cells. Sleep disruption breaks down the control of inflammatory cell production, leading to more inflammation and more heart disease.  According to Filip Swirski, Ph.D. of the MGH Center for Systems Biology, there is a brain hormone known to control wakefulness that controls processes in the bone marrow that protects against heart disease. 

Mice that had been genetically programmed to develop atherosclerosis were subjected to repeated interruptions of their sleep, similar to the experience of someone constantly waking up because of noise or discomfort.  Compared to mice from the same strain that were allowed to sleep normally, those subject to sleep disruption developed larger arterial plaques and had higher levels of inflammatory cells in their blood vessels.  They had a nearly two fold increase in the production of in their bone marrow of stem cells that give rise to white blood cells.  A hormone called hypocretin, produced in the brain structure known as the hypothalamus, which is known to regulate sleep, was found to have an unexpected role in controlling white blood cell production. While normally produced in high levels when animals, including humans, are awake, hypocretin levels were significantly reduced in the sleep deprived mice.  Dr. Swirski, an associate professor of Radiology at Harvard Medical School, plans to explore further mechanisms by which proper sleep maintains vascular health, and further explore this newly identified neuro-immune axis.

The complete article from which this column is based can be found at Science Daily, February 13, 2019.

The take home messages from this study are important.  Safeguard your sleep by reducing or eliminating caffeine from coffee, caffeinated teas, caffeine containing soft drinks, kombucha, etc. late in the day. People who are sensitive to caffeine should not drink it after noon.  Be careful with alcohol around bedtime as well – it can put you to sleep, but will often disrupt your sleep quality later in the night. If you have sleep apnea, take steps to control it. Sleep apnea is a serious sleep disorder  - breathing is interrupted many times each night, resulting in insufficient oxygen for the brain and body. Talk to your doctor about getting a device called CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) or talk to your dentist about a dental device that may help with sleep apnea.  Losing weight may help, and so will quitting smoking!  Wear blue blocking glasses starting an hour before bedtime, so that bright lights from your home, your TV, computer or cell phone will not reduce your natural melatonin production as bedtime gets near. If you get up at night to go to the bathroom, wear the blue blocking glasses at that time.  All these measures are important, and potentially life saving.

Sadja Greenwood, MD, MPH

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