Currently the planet is inhabited by several millions of extremely diversified species. Not all of them arouse emotions of the same nature or intensity in humans. Little is known about the extent of ...our affective responses toward them and the factors that may explain these differences. Our online survey involved 3500 raters who had to make choices depending on specific questions designed to either assess their empathic perceptions or their compassionate reactions toward an extended photographic sampling of organisms. Results show a strong negative correlation between empathy scores and the divergence time separating them from us. However, beyond a certain time of divergence, our empathic perceptions stabilize at a minimum level. Compassion scores, although based on less spontaneous choices, remain strongly correlated to empathy scores and time of divergence. The mosaic of features characterizing humans has been acquired gradually over the course of the evolution, and the phylogenetically closer a species is to us, the more it shares common traits with us. Our results could be explained by the fact that many of these traits may arouse sensory biases. These anthropomorphic signals could be able to mobilize cognitive circuitry and to trigger prosocial behaviors usually at work in human relationships.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Glioblastoma‐associated macrophages (GAMs) play a crucial role in the progression and invasiveness of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM); however, the exact crosstalk between GAMs and glioblastoma cells ...is not fully understood. Furthermore, there is a lack of relevant in vitro models to mimic their interactions. Here, novel 3D‐bioprinted mini‐brains consisting of glioblastoma cells and macrophages are presented as tool to study the interactions between these two cell types and to test therapeutics that target this interaction. It is demonstrated that in the mini‐brains, glioblastoma cells actively recruit macrophages and polarize them into a GAM‐specific phenotype, showing clinical relevance to transcriptomic and patient survival data. Furthermore, it is shown that macrophages induce glioblastoma cell progression and invasiveness in the mini‐brains. Finally, it is demonstrated how therapeutics can inhibit the interaction between GAMs and tumor cells resulting in reduced tumor growth and more sensitivity to chemotherapy. It is envisioned that this 3D‐bioprinted tumor model is used to improve the understanding of tumor biology and for evaluating novel cancer therapeutics.
A novel 3D bioprinted model recapitulating the microenvironment of glioblastoma multiforme is presented. The interaction between glioblastoma cells and glioma‐associated macrophages is investigated, demonstrating clinically relevant cell phenotypes, polarization and invasion of cancer cells and macrophages. Moreover, this model is able to mimic the responsiveness to chemotherapy and immunotherapy similar to the clinical situation.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
The ratio between the body circumference at the waist and the hips (or WHR) is a secondary sexual trait that is unique to humans and is well known to influence men's mate preferences. Because a ...woman's WHR also provides information about her age, health and fertility, men's preference concerning this physical feature may possibly be a cognitive adaptation selected in the human lineage. However, it is unclear whether the preferred WHR in western countries reflects a universal ideal, as geographic variation in non-western areas has been found, and discordances about its temporal consistency remain in the literature. We analyzed the WHR of women considered as ideally beautiful who were depicted in western artworks from 500 BCE to the present. These vestiges of the past feminine ideal were then compared to more recent symbols of beauty: Playboy models and winners of several Miss pageants from 1920 to 2014. We found that the ideal WHR has changed over time in western societies: it was constant during almost a millennium in antiquity (from 500 BCE to 400 CE) and has decreased from the 15th century to the present. Then, based on Playboy models and Miss pageants winners, this decrease appears to slow down or even reverse during the second half of the 20th century. The universality of an ideal WHR is thus challenged, and historical changes in western societies could have caused these variations in men's preferences. The potential adaptive explanations for these results are discussed.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
During COVID-19 pandemic several public health measures were implemented by diverse countries to reduce the risk of COVID-19, including social distancing. Here we collected the minimal distance ...recommended by each country for physical distancing at the onset of the pandemic and aimed to examine whether it had an impact on the outbreak dynamics and how this specific value was chosen. Despite an absence of data on SARS-CoV-2 viral transmission at the beginning of the pandemic, we found that most countries recommended physical distancing with a precise minimal distance, between one meter/three feet and two meters/six feet. 45% of the countries advised one meter/three feet and 49% advised a higher minimal distance. The recommended minimal distance did not show a clear correlation with reproduction rate nor with the number of new cases per million, suggesting that the overall COVID-19 dynamics in each country depended on multiple interacting factors. Interestingly, the recommended minimal distance correlated with several cultural parameters: it was higher in countries with larger interpersonal distance between two interacting individuals in non-epidemic conditions, and it correlated with civil law systems, and with currency. This suggests that countries which share common conceptions such as civil law systems and currency unions tend to adopt the same public health measures.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Over the last decades, the fabrication of 3D tissues has become commonplace in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. However, conventional 3D biofabrication techniques such as scaffolding, ...microengineering, and fiber and cell sheet engineering are limited in their capacity to fabricate complex tissue constructs with the required precision and controllability that is needed to replicate biologically relevant tissues. To this end, 3D bioprinting offers great versatility to fabricate biomimetic, volumetric tissues that are structurally and functionally relevant. It enables precise control of the composition, spatial distribution, and architecture of resulting constructs facilitating the recapitulation of the delicate shapes and structures of targeted organs and tissues. This Review systematically covers the history of bioprinting and the most recent advances in instrumentation and methods. It then focuses on the requirements for bioinks and cells to achieve optimal fabrication of biomimetic constructs. Next, emerging evolutions and future directions of bioprinting are discussed, such as freeform, high‐resolution, multimaterial, and 4D bioprinting. Finally, the translational potential of bioprinting and bioprinted tissues of various categories are presented and the Review is concluded by exemplifying commercially available bioprinting platforms.
Recent advances in translating 3D bioprinting to the clinics are reviewed, including developments in bioprinting strategies, innovations in bioinks for bioprinting, advances in bioprinting of complex architectures, and the translational potential of bioprinted tissue‐like structures. Commercially available bioprinting platforms are briefly discussed toward the end.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Being phylogenetically close involves greater empathic perceptions towards other species. To explore this phenomenon, this study investigates the influence of neurocognitive predispositions to ...empathy on our perceptions of other organisms. Autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) are characterized, among others, by weakened empathic skills. Our online survey involved a group of 202 raters with ASD and a control group of 1100 raters, who had to make choices to assess their empathic perceptions toward an extended photographic sampling of organisms. Results highlight that both groups present overall similar trends in their empathic preferences, with empathy scores significantly decreasing with the phylogenetic distance relatively to humans. However, the empathy score attributed to Homo sapiens in the ASD group represents a striking outlier in the yet very sharp overall correlation between empathy scores and divergence time, scoring our species as low as cold-blooded vertebrates. These results are consistent with previous studies, which emphasized that (1) understanding human beings would be more difficult for people with ASD than decoding "animals" and (2) that Theory of Mind impairment would not represent a global deficit in people with ASD but may relate to the mindreading of specifically human agents.
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Most cancer cells release heterogeneous populations of extracellular vesicles (EVs) containing proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids. In vitro experiments showed that EV uptake can lead to transfer of ...functional mRNA and altered cellular behavior. However, similar in vivo experiments remain challenging because cells that take up EVs cannot be discriminated from non-EV-receiving cells. Here, we used the Cre-LoxP system to directly identify tumor cells that take up EVs in vivo. We show that EVs released by malignant tumor cells are taken up by less malignant tumor cells located within the same and within distant tumors and that these EVs carry mRNAs involved in migration and metastasis. By intravital imaging, we show that the less malignant tumor cells that take up EVs display enhanced migratory behavior and metastatic capacity. We postulate that tumor cells locally and systemically share molecules carried by EVs in vivo and that this affects cellular behavior.
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•Visualization of extracellular vesicle exchange between tumor cells in living mice•Direct in vivo evidence of local and systemic mRNA exchange between tumor cells•The exchange of biomolecules is mediated through extracellular vesicles•Metastatic behavior can be phenocopied through extracellular vesicle exchange
Intravital imaging experiments reveal the extracellular vesicle-mediated exchange of molecules important for metastasis between tumor cells in living mice. This exchange results in metastatic properties being conferred to the receiving cell.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
The remarkable ecological and demographic success of humanity is largely attributed to our capacity for cumulative culture. The accumulation of beneficial cultural innovations across generations is ...puzzling because transmission events are generally imperfect, although there is large variance in fidelity. Events of perfect cultural transmission and innovations should be more frequent in a large population. As a consequence, a large population size may be a prerequisite for the evolution of cultural complexity, although anthropological studies have produced mixed results and empirical evidence is lacking. Here we use a dual-task computer game to show that cultural evolution strongly depends on population size, as players in larger groups maintained higher cultural complexity. We found that when group size increases, cultural knowledge is less deteriorated, improvements to existing cultural traits are more frequent, and cultural trait diversity is maintained more often. Our results demonstrate how changes in group size can generate both adaptive cultural evolution and maladaptive losses of culturally acquired skills. As humans live in habitats for which they are ill-suited without specific cultural adaptations, it suggests that, in our evolutionary past, group-size reduction may have exposed human societies to significant risks, including societal collapse.
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DOBA, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The Western diet has undergone a massive switch since the second half of the 20th century, with the massive increase of the consumption of refined carbohydrate associated with many adverse health ...effects. The physiological mechanisms linked to this consumption, such as hyperglycaemia and hyperinsulinemia, may impact non medical traits such as facial attractiveness. To explore this issue, the relationship between facial attractiveness and immediate and chronic refined carbohydrate consumption estimated by glycemic load was studied for 104 French subjects. Facial attractiveness was assessed by opposite sex raters using pictures taken two hours after a controlled breakfast. Chronic consumption was assessed considering three high glycemic risk meals: breakfast, afternoon snacking and between-meal snacking. Immediate consumption of a high glycemic breakfast decreased facial attractiveness for men and women while controlling for several control variables, including energy intake. Chronic refined carbohydrate consumption had different effects on attractiveness depending on the meal and/or the sex. Chronic refined carbohydrate consumption, estimated by the glycemic load, during the three studied meals reduced attractiveness, while a high energy intake increased it. Nevertheless, the effect was reversed for men concerning the afternoon snack, for which a high energy intake reduced attractiveness and a high glycemic load increased it. These effects were maintained when potential confounders for facial attractiveness were controlled such as age, age departure from actual age, masculinity/femininity (perceived and measured), BMI, physical activity, parental home ownership, smoking, couple status, hormonal contraceptive use (for women), and facial hairiness (for men). Results were possibly mediated by an increase in age appearance for women and a decrease in perceived masculinity for men. The physiological differences between the three meals studied and the interpretation of the results from an adaptive/maladaptive point of view in relation to our new dietary environment are discussed.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Through behavioral correlations, mate choice could influence the evolution of traits that are not directly selected for, or even observed. We addressed whether mound building, a unique collective ...behavior observed in Mus spicilegus, could be favored by female mate choice, irrespective of whether females were able to observe the behavior. First, we introduced mixed sex groups of wild-born mice in large terraria with building materials and assessed male variation in building investment. Second, we presented females with a choice between males that invested the most versus the least in building. Females were either able to observe the males during building or not. Third, because overwintering juveniles rely on mound protection, we hypothesized that building could be a form of paternal care, and assessed whether males that invested more in building also invested more in direct offspring care. We showed that females were more attracted to males that invested the most in building, even when these behaviors were not observed. In addition, direct offspring care was negatively correlated with males' investment in building, suggesting that two alternative paternal care strategies (mound building versus direct offspring care) may exist. Our study supports the hypothesis that building could be detectable by phenotypic cues that differ from building behavior per se and that mate choice may influence the evolution and maintenance of mound building that several authors describe as a common good.
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