Coronavirus: 'Modern slavery' at the heart of German slaughterhouse outbreakJust as lockdown measures are lifting, more than 200 employees at a slaughterhouse in western Germany have contracted COVID-19. DW spoke to workers living in dilapidated, crowded conditions.

I'm standing outside a run-down, two-story brick building in the village of Rosendahl, in the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. One of the residents, a man of around 50, tells me the home has been placed under quarantine "because of coronavirus."

His grasp of English and German is limited, and he wants to remain anonymous, but he tells me he's from the Romanian city of Sibiu.

The man doesn't seem to understand that having his house under quarantine requires him to stay inside. He's wearing a paper mask, but it dangles loosely around his neck. The man works at the Westfleisch slaughterhouse in nearby Coesfeld, along with a number of other Romanians, Bulgarians and Polish people.

Authorities have temporarily closed the slaughterhouse after news broke that an unknown number of workers at the site had become infected with the coronavirus. As of Monday afternoon, at least 249 people had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the COVID-19 disease — many of them foreign workers.

Nobody feels responsible

The Romanian man cannot say how many of his compatriots live in his building. He estimates 12, possibly more. The mailbox outside is covered with Romanian surnames, but nothing has been posted to indicate that the house has been placed under quarantine. No official notice, no handwritten sign, nothing. As we continue our conversation, another Romanian worker returns from the nearby supermarket, carrying a carton of eggs under his arm.

Anne-Monika Spallek, a spokeswoman for the Coesfeld Green party, says nobody has taken responsibility for the workers' health and safety conditions. The problem has been "pushed back and forth between the local municipality, the region and the state," with no one willing to act. One reason, she suspects, has to do with the fact that Westfleisch workers from Eastern and Southeast Europe are officially employed by a subcontractor, with German public health officials only getting involved once someone has been infected.


Anne-Monika Spallek is the spokesperson for the local Green party

Spallek doubts the subcontractor has taken the legally required steps to prevent coronavirus from spreading inside the workers' dorm. Every worker should have a room to himself, she says, and those infected with the virus should swiftly be isolated from the rest of the workers. Those forced to live under quarantine, among them the man and his fellow workers in Rosendahl, should be receiving deliveries of groceries and other essentials — not going out in public to fend for themselves.

A few minutes later, a minibus stops outside the house. Local authorities, immigration officers and public health workers — all clad in protective gear — head inside, it seems to start systematically testing workers for SARS-CoV-2. It will later emerge that authorities in Coesfeld carried out swab tests on 930 Westfleisch workers.

Locals sympathize with workers

A woman who lives across the street from the workers' home tells me that authorities were slow to act and says she feels sorry for the foreigners. "They are poor people, put up in squalid conditions and exploited," she says. An older man passing by on his bike says many locals now avoid the nearby supermarket, fearing they could contract the virus from one of the Romanian workers.

A 15-minute drive away, Peter Kossen and a friend are protesting outside the main entrance to the Westfleisch slaughterhouse. Kossen, a 51-year-old Catholic theologian, is holding up a sign that reads "End modern slavery." They are appalled at how the workers have been treated.

"This catastrophe was on the horizon for weeks," says Kossen, adding that many foreign workers live "crammed into moldy dorms and decrepit homes," making it impossible for them to keep a safe distance from each other. And, he says, the same applies for the "overcrowded buses that are used to shuttle workers to the slaughterhouse."

Patrick Peter Kossen holds up a sign reading 'end modern slavery'

Just behind Kossen, trucks and workers can be seen leaving the site at regular intervals, even though officially the slaughterhouse has been temporarily shut down. The Westfleisch website, meanwhile, states that all workers infected with SARS-CoV-2, and those who came in contact with them, have been told to self-isolate at home. The company says it's keeping in close contact with its employees.

This scandal has far-reaching consequences for the local municipality. While the state of North Rhine-Westphalia will ease some of its lockdown restrictions on Monday, Coesfeld municipality will keep them in place at least until May 18.

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COVID-19 outbreak in German slaughterhouse sparks fears 11.05.2020

About 200 workers from a meat processing plant in western Germany have been tested positive for COVID-19. Officials say the virus spread through shared housing for the factory's mostly Eastern European staff. Local residents are deeply concerned.

Opinion: Coronavirus highlights scandalous conditions in Germany's meat industry 12.05.2020

Foreign workers are forced to endure inhumane living conditions so that we can eat cheap meat. Politicians can no longer ignore what's happening at German slaughterhouses, says DW's Miodrag Soric.

Date 11.05.2020
Author Miodrag Soric
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Opinion: Coronavirus highlights scandalous conditions in Germany's meat industry NORTH AMERICA TOO

Foreign workers are forced to endure inhumane living conditions so that we can eat cheap meat. Politicians can no longer ignore what's happening at German slaughterhouses, says DW's Miodrag Soric.


We're all familiar with the saying "there is no such thing as a free lunch." In life, everything comes at a cost, and this also holds true for the cheap meat that consumers in rich, industrialized nations love to eat.

After hundreds of Eastern European laborers employed at the Westfleisch slaughterhouse in North Rhine-Westphalia tested positive for the coronavirus, it clear is that the workers are the ones paying the price — sometimes with their lives — for this cheap meat. Sure, Westfleisch, Germany's third largest meat processing company, has stated it carries responsibility for its workers. But look closer, and you'll see the company only has a small number of actual employees. Most workers in the industry are hired by subcontractors, who mainly employ Romanians, Bulgarian and Poles.

Read more: 'Modern slavery' at the heart of German slaughterhouse outbreak

Passing the buck

The meat industry relies on this loophole to cut costs. And on paper, companies like Westfleisch carry no responsibility for the inhumane living conditions that the hundreds of foreigner workers staffing their slaughterhouses in Germany have to endure.

DW's Miodrag Soric

The subcontractors, in turn, argue its the government that should be setting and enforcing basic labor and health standards. But in Germany, this is the prerogative of the respective municipalities or federal states. All of this has led to passing the buck, with nobody willing to step in. And while the North Rhine-Westphalia state labor minister has bemoaned a tendency to turn a blind eye in the meat industry, he has not taken action, either. No lawmaker has, for that matter.

It's an open secret that for years, laborers from Eastern and Southern Europe have been breaking their backs doing piecework in German slaughterhouses, and languishing in squalid living conditions. Westfleisch management knows this full well, as do the subcontractors, local officials and police, Coesfeld district administrators, North Rhine-Westphalia state authorities and even federal lawmakers. Coesfeld residents are aware of the situation, and so too are residents in neighboring towns. They cross paths with workers at the local supermarket and bakery, after all. Until recently, barely anyone seemed to be bothered by the status quo, with many arguing these workers come to Germany voluntarily, earning more money than in their respective home countries.

A virus that threatens everyone

The coronavirus pandemic has changed everything, however. If three or four workers are crammed into a single room, the risk of an outbreak is significant. And this risk of course poses an immediate danger to nearby communities. Without the coronavirus pandemic, one might argue, somewhat cynically, that most Germans would have continued to ignore these workers' dismal living conditions.

This scandal, incidentally, has global ramifications. Germany's meat industry is so competitive that it even exports all the way to China. German companies can offer cheaper products than their global competitors. But, to keep prices low, companies pressure farmers to cut costs, too. Consequently, pork farmers keep animals in tiny pens and given them antibiotics so they don't get sick. They are fed with cheap soy or corn, which is imported from South America, where vast swathes of rain forest are cut down to grow these crops. This, in turn, harms the climate and drives up the cost of land.

Read more: Cheap meat hard for German farmers to swallow

We are all paying the price

In the end, we are all paying a high price for cheap meat. Animals reared on antibiotics mean humans are growing resistant to certain drugs, and the meat industry pollutes our ground water as too much animal waste ends up in our fields.

Industry leaders and politicians have long known about these ramifications. Everyone understands that the only way to change things is to switch to smaller, decentralized businesses that produce high-quality meat in smaller quantities. This would presumably reduce their revenue, because it would no longer pay to export pork to China. This would also surely drive up the price of meat here in Germany. Surveys, however, show that a large majority of Germans would favor transitioning to a more sustainable form of agriculture. What we need, then, is the determination, courage and leadership to get us there.


CORONAVIRUS: EUROPE SLOWLY BEGINS TO WAKE UP
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Shops across Europe were forced to close their doors to prevent the spread of COVID-19, including this fashion store on Makarios Avenue in downtown Nicosia, Cyprus. A stay-at-home order had been in place on the island since late March. On May 4 President Nicos Anastasiades allowed construction sites and small retail stores to open again. People should be able to move freely again on May 21.

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Date 12.05.2020
Author Miodrag Soric

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Keywords COVID-19, Westfleisch, coronavirus, pandemic, meat, slaughterhouse

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Coronavirus breaks out in third German slaughterhouse

A slaughterhouse in the western city of Bochum has identified at least 22 coronavirus infections among its employees. Over 200 employees at another abattoir nearby have tested positive for the deadly virus


A coronavirus outbreak was uncovered at a third meatpacking plant in Germany after at least 22 employees in the western German city of Bochum were found to be infected with the deadly coronavirus, Radio Bochum and the Rheinische Post reported on Monday.

The most recent cases were detected after outbreaks at meatpacking plants in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and Schleswig-Holstein prompted German authorities to carry out tests at other locations.

Read more: Coronavirus: 'Modern slavery' at the heart German slaughterhouse outbreak

As of Sunday, 205 cases of coronavirus had been confirmed at a meat packing plant in the city of Coesfeld, about 70 kilometres (43 miles) north of Bochum. Nearly 950 of the company's 1200 employees have been tested.

Germany: Restrictions eased despite climbing infection rate

Further test results are still pending in both locations.

At least 109 cases of coronavirus were previously detected at a plant in the state of Schleswig-Holstein.

Watch video COVID-19 outbreak in German slaughterhouse sparks fears
https://www.dw.com/en/covid-19-outbreak-in-german-slaughterhouse-sparks-fears/av-53387405

Shameful housing conditions

Authorities also inspected employees' communal living quarters, where hygienic standards were found to be lacking.

The majority of the employees in Coesfeld are immigrants from Eastern Europe, RP-Online reported, and are housed together in dormitory-style quarters.

Where the employees in Bochum are from and whether they live in similar housing has not yet been confirmed.

According to the labor union Nahrung, Genuss, Gaststätten (NGG), such employee housing allows the virus to flourish. Many of these laborers are employed by agencies who help them acquire jobs in Germany.

"They live too close together," said union representative Thomas Bernhard, who described the situation as a "huge problem."

Emergency measures implemented

NRW, the German state where both Bochum and Coesfeld are located, on Friday became the first to activate an emergency coronavirus response mechanism. The move was in response to the outbreak in Coesfeld.

The mechanism extends public restriction measures implemented due to the coronavirus until May 18 for the area around Coesfeld. Many measures are due to be relaxed nationwide on May 11.

Both NRW and Schleswig-Holstein have said they will test workers at all slaughterhouses and meatpacking plants in the state.

Such locations have already become a hotbed for coronavirus in the US, where dozens of plants have shut down amid rising infections and fatalities.

The Centers for Disease Control in the US said the trend can be explained by the fact that meatpacking is a physically gruelling job that requires employees to keep close proximity to one another. 

See
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/05/coronavirus-outbreak-closes-german-meat.html

Date 11.05.2020

Author Kristie Pladson

Related Subjects Germany, Coronavirus

Keywords slaughterhouse, abattoir, Germany, Bochum, coronavirus

Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3c18m

Coronavirus outbreak closes German meat-packing plant

Days after Germany readied to ease coronavirus restrictions, three districts saw outbreaks that will delay reopening. After COVID-19 infections at slaughterhouses, two states will test all meat-processing workers.



Following a COVID-19 outbreak at a meat processing plant in the town of Coesfeld, near the western German city of Münster, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) has become the first to activate an "emergency mechanism" and delay the loosening of lockdown restrictions in the administrative district of Coesfeld until May 18.

As Germany draws down social distancing restrictions, and slowly reopens schools and businesses, the emergency mechanism is designed to stop a COVID-19 outbreak locally before it spreads further by reintroducing restrictions on public life. In most parts of the country, the restrictions are expected to be lifted on May 11.

Read more: Germans rally behind Merkel government's coronavirus response

Also referred to as an "emergency brake," the mechanism is triggered if 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants are detected in a district or city. NRW Health Minister Karl-Josef Laumann said that the number of new infections in Coesfeld is now at 61 per 100,000.

Laumann added that schools and day care facilities in the district would be allowed to open as planned on May 11.

The localized spike in cases comes after a test Thursday of 200 employees at the Westfleisch meat processing plant revealed 151 were positive for COVID-19. The company said 13 people have been hospitalized with moderate symptoms, and the rest are isolating with "mild" symptoms.The plant will be closed until further notice.


State authorities orderd Westfleisch to close for the time being

Laumann said the majority of workers were from Romania and Bulgaria, and their shared accommodation in tight quarters was a possible reason for the outbreak.

At the end of April, a similar outbreak at a meat processing plant in the southern state of Baden-Württemberg involved around 200 foreign workers who were infected.

Read more: Cheap meat hard for German farmers to swallow

All NRW slaughterhouse workers to be tested

Laumann said on Friday that an estimated 17,000-20,000 employees in all of the NRW's 35 slaughterhouses will be tested for COVID-19, included all 1,200 workers at the Westfleisch plant.

The health minister added that a smaller outbreak has been found at another NRW meat-packing plant in the town of Oer-Erkenschwick in the Ruhr region, with 33 workers out of 1,250 testing positive.

In the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein, health officials on Friday also called for state-wide testing of all slaughterhouse workers.

Earlier this week, 109 workers tested positive at a plant in Bad Bramstedt in the district of Segeberg. As with the other cases, most of the workers come from abroad and live in shared housing near the plant.

The district of Segeberg will also delay the easing of lockdown measures, Germany's DPA news agency reported.

A district in the eastern state of Thuringia also initiated the emergency measurements due to a coronavirus outbreak in an elderly care facility.

wmr/sms (dpa, Reuters, AFP)


Date 08.05.2020
Related Subjects Coronavirus
Keywords coronavirus, covid-19, meat-packing, infections

Brazil deploys military to protect Amazon rainforest

The Brazilian government has launched a military deployment to conserve the world's largest rainforest. The development comes just days after satellite images showed a surge in deforestation this year.


Brazil deployed its military to protect the Amazon rainforest on Monday, starting with an operation to stop environmental destruction in a national forest near the Bolivian border, Vice President Hamilton Mourao said.

The operation to halt illegal logging and mining activities in the world's largest rainforest will be carried out with the help of environmental authorities, police, and other government agencies, Mourao said in a press conference.

Authorities have set up bases for the operation in three Amazon cities, and 3,800 troops have been mobilized, Defense Minister Fernando Azevedo e Silva announced. The initial cost of the operation is estimated at 60 million Brazilian reais (€9.54 million, $10.31 million).

Alarming trend

On Friday, data from Brazil's National Space Research Institute (INPE) showed a surge in deforestation this year.

More than 1,200 square kilometers of forest in the Brazilian Amazon was wiped out in the first four months of 2020, a 55% increase from the same period last year, according to the government agency which tracks environmental destruction via satellite images.

Read more: Brazil's Amazon rainforest has become the Wild West for illegal gold miners

These figures, the highest for the first four months of the year since 2015, are alarming since the high season of forest fires is still weeks away.

Last year, wildfires and illegal deforestation ravaged over 10,000 square kilometers of the Amazon from May to October, raising worldwide alarm over the future of the rainforest seen as vital to curbing climate change.
Amazon under Bolsonaro

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro last week authorized the army to deploy to the Amazon to combat wildfires and illegal destructive activities. He did the same last year, sending armed forces to the region after the record-breaking deforestation sparked international criticism.

This time, he has sent in the army three months earlier than last year.

Read more: Where could Brazil's investigation of Bolsonaro lead?

Environmentalists blame the policies of Bolsonaro, a climate change skeptic, for the surge in the destruction of the Amazon. The right-wing president has previously advocated for mining and farming activities in the protected areas of the forest.

Under his presidency, Brazil's environmental agency IBAMA has faced staffing and budget cuts.

Twin challenges

The effort to combat deforestation is made more complicated by the coronavirus pandemic, with fewer environmental enforcement agents in the field due to the increased health risk.

Read more: How deforestation can lead to more infectious diseases

Brazil is the epicenter of the pandemic in Latin America, with more than 11,000 deaths. The state of Amazonas, one of the hardest-hit regions of the country, has just one intensive care unit. The virus has taken up most of the scarce resources, and attention, overwhelming the state's capacity to protect the forest.

Date 12.05.2020

Related Subjects Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil, Deforestation, Amazon rainforest

Keywords Brazil, Amazon rainforest, military, Jair Bolsonaro, deforestation

Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3c3KQ

Anti-Semitism in the US hits 4-decade high: report

2019 was the worst year for anti-Semitic attacks since the Anti-Defamation League began keeping records. This included a massive uptick in violent assaults.



Anti-Semitic incidents in the United States hit a four-decade high in 2019, according to the latest report from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), one of the US' oldest and largest Jewish NGOs. The ADL's annual audit published late on Tuesday found that over 2,000 acts of assault, vandalism, and harassment had taken place – the most since the group started keeping track in 1979.

"The record number of incidents came as the Jewish community grappled with vicious and lethal antisemitic attacks against communities in Poway, Jersey City and Monsey, and a spree of violent assaults in Brooklyn," the ADL noted in its report.

Of the 96 victims of violent assaults, including five fatalities, across the US, 25 were targeted in Brooklyn alone. The area is home to many Hasidic and Ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities.

In total, there were 2,107 anti-Semitic incidents in the US, occurring in every US state except Alaska and Hawaii. This number represents a 12% increase on 2018. Overall, harassment increased by 6%, vandalism by 19%, and assault by a massive 56%.

"It's clear we must remain vigilant in working to counter the threat of violent antisemitism and denounce it in all forms, wherever the source and regardless of the political affiliation of its proponents," said Jonathan Greenblatt, the ADL's chief executive.

Read more: Germany: Anti-Semitism despite remembrance culture

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https://www.dw.com/en/anti-semitism-in-the-us-hits-4-decade-high-report/a-53402428

Students targeted

The annual report also highlighted that while incidents had decreased slightly at synagogues and Jewish community centers, anti-Semitism continued to increase at schools and universities.

In at least 170 cases, the motivation for the hate crimes was "anti-Israel animus" and that many Jewish school children and university students were targeted for their "real or assumed connection to Israel."

Greenblatt said one of the most important tools in fighting hate was better education about Jewish history and the Holocaust, adding that the ADL would petition state and federal governments to ensure this is included in school curriculums.

The FBI has also reported that all forms of hate crime across the US had hit a 16-year high. The bureau found that the vast majority of hate crimes in New York City targeted Jewish people, while overall the biggest increase was against the Latinx community amidst an atmosphere of anti-immigrant sentiment fomented by the incendiary rhetoric of the Trump administration.

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Germany: Living with anti-Semitism

https://www.dw.com/en/anti-semitism-in-the-us-hits-4-decade-high-report/a-53402428

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Waiting game: testing the patience of predators and prey

Snakes and frogs appear to anticipate each other

IMAGE: A JAPANESE STRIPED SNAKE (ELAPHE QUADRIVIRGATA) AND DARK-SPOTTED FROG (PELOPHYLAX NIGROMACULATUS) STARING DOWN ANTICIPATING EACH OTHER'S NEXT MOVE view more 

CREDIT: KYOTO UNIVERSITY/NOZOMI NISHIUMI

KYOTO UNIVERSITY

Kyoto, Japan -- 'Like a frog stared down by a snake', goes an old Japanese expression, descrbing an animal petrified with fear.

However, it now seems that this freeze in action may not be about fear at all, but rather a delicate waiting game of life and death.

A new report from researchers at Kyoto University's Graduate School of Science shows that this common interaction is all about patience, with each animal waiting for and anticipating its opponent's actions.

"When predator and prey face each other, it is generally thought that the initiator has the advantage that would mediate successful capture or escape," explains Nozomi Nishiumi, corresponding author of the report published in the Canadian Journal of Zoology.

"However, in cases involving snakes and frogs, they occasionally move extremely slowly -- or almost not at all. It looks like they purposely avoid taking preemptive action."

Nishiumi, together with colleague Akira Mori, examined how the animals' behaviors affected the consequences of their interaction by focusing specifically on the kinematics of the snakes' strikes and the frogs' flight behavior.

The team analyzed the movement patterns of the Japanese striped snake, Elaphe quadrivirgata, and the black-spotted pond frog, Pelophylax nigromaculatus, both in the field and in staged encounter experiments.

"In the staged encounters we wanted to look at the disadvantages of preemptive actions by analyzing the kinematic characteristics of each animal's movements," explains Nishiumi.

"The field observations, on the other hand, were designed to follow the consequences of the animals' actions and survival."

The team found that the counteractions of each animal were often effective because the initiator's actions were difficult to change once started. For example, if the snake initiated a strike action first, the frog would evade the attack because the trajectory of the strike could not be changed mid-movement, allowing the frog to escape safely while the snake spent time resetting its lunge posture.

Alternatively, if the frog first attempted an escape, the snake would start lunging immediately, and occasionally be able to adjust its strike direction in anticipation of the frog's direction of movement.

"The efficacy of this waiting tactic depends on the distance between them: the closer they are the less likely the counteraction succeeds," continues Nishiumi.

"In this regard, when approaching this critical distance, the animals appropriately switch their behaviors from waiting to taking action."

These results suggest that a game of patience occurs between the animals, providing insight on predicting the decision-making of predators and prey.

###

Video Link

https://youtu.be/MBlKQ2-31P4

The paper "A game of patience between predator and prey: waiting for opponent's action determines successful capture or escape" appeared on 10 March 2020 in the Canadian Journal of Zoology, with doi:10.1139/cjz-2019-0164

About Kyoto University

Kyoto University is one of Japan and Asia's premier research institutions, founded in 1897 and responsible for producing numerous Nobel laureates and winners of other prestigious international prizes. A broad curriculum across the arts and sciences at both undergraduate and graduate levels is complemented by numerous research centers, as well as facilities and offices around Japan and the world. For more information please see: http://www.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en

Authors: Nozomi Nishiumi, Akira Mori
Contact: Nozomi Nishiumi PhD
National Institute for Basic Biology
5-1 Higashiyama, Myodaijichou, Okazaki, Aichi 444-8787, Japan

Can we really tell male and female dinosaurs apart?

QUEEN MARY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON

Scientists worldwide have long debated our ability to identify male and female dinosaurs. Now, research led by Queen Mary University of London has shown that despite previous claims of success, it's very difficult to spot differences between the sexes.

In the new study, researchers analysed skulls from modern-day gharials, an endangered and giant crocodilian species, to see how easy it is to distinguish between males and females using only fossil records.

Male gharials are larger in size than females and possess a fleshy growth on the end of their snout, known as a ghara. Whilst the ghara is made from soft tissue, it is supported by a bony hollow near the nostrils, known as the narial fossa, which can be identified in their skulls.

The research team, which included Jordan Mallon from the Canadian Museum of Nature, Patrick Hennessey from Georgia Southern University and Lawrence Witmer from Ohio University, studied 106 gharial specimens in museums across the world. They found that aside from the presence of the narial fossa in males, it was still very hard to tell the sexes apart.

Dr David Hone, Senior Lecturer in Zoology at Queen Mary University of London and author of the study, said: "Like dinosaurs, gharials are large, slow growing reptiles that lay eggs, which makes them a good model for studying extinct dinosaur species. Our research shows that even with prior knowledge of the sex of the specimen, it can still be difficult to tell male and female gharials apart. With most dinosaurs we don't have anywhere near that size of the dataset used for this study, and we don't know the sex of the animals, so we'd expect this task to be much harder."

In many species, males and females can look very different from each other. For example, antlers are largely only found in male deer and in peacocks, males are normally brightly-coloured with large, iridescent tail feathers whereas females are much more subdued in their colouration. This is known as sexual dimorphism and is very common within the animal kingdom. It is expected that dinosaurs also exhibit these differences, however this research suggests that in most cases this is far too difficult to tell from the skeleton alone.

Dr Hone said: "Some animals show extraordinarily high levels of sexual dimorphism, for example huge size differences between males and females. Gharials sit somewhere in the middle as they do possess these large narial fossa that can help with identification. Our study suggests that unless the differences between the dinosaurs are really striking, or there is a clear feature like the fossa, we will struggle to tell a male and female dinosaur apart using our existing dinosaur skeletons."

The new research also challenges previous studies that have hinted at differences between the sexes in popular dinosaur species such as the Tyrannosaurus rex (T. rex), and led to common misconceptions amongst the general public.

"Many years ago, a scientific paper suggested that female T. rex are bigger than males. However, this was based on records from 25 broken specimens and our results show this level of data just isn't good enough to be able to make this conclusion," Dr Hone added.

###

Notes to Editors

Research publication: 'Ontogeny of a sexually selected structure in an extant archosaur Gavialis gangeticus (Pseudosuchia: Crocodylia) with implications for sexual dimorphism in dinosaurs' D Hone, J Mallon, P Hennessey, L Witmer. PeerJ

Supporting images available on request.

For a copy of the paper, please contact:

Sophie McLachlan
Faculty Communications Manager (Science & Engineering)
Queen Mary University of London
sophie.mclachlan@qmul.ac.uk
Tel: 020 7882 3787

About Queen Mary

Queen Mary University of London is a research-intensive university that connects minds worldwide. A member of the prestigious Russell Group, we work across the humanities and social sciences, medicine and dentistry, and science and engineering, with inspirational teaching directly informed by our world-leading research. In the most recent Research Excellence Framework we were ranked 5th in the country for the proportion of research outputs that were world-leading or internationally excellent. We have over 25,000 students and offer more than 240 degree programmes. Our reputation for excellent teaching was rewarded with silver in the most recent Teaching Excellence Framework. Queen Mary has a proud and distinctive history built on four historic institutions stretching back to 1785 and beyond. Common to each of these institutions - the London Hospital Medical College, St Bartholomew's Medical College, Westfield College and Queen Mary College - was the vision to provide hope and opportunity for the less privileged or otherwise under-represented. Today, Queen Mary University of London remains true to that belief in opening the doors of opportunity for anyone with the potential to succeed and helping to build a future we can all be proud of.

DNA surprises surfacing in the Atlantic: Species far from their usual southern homes

DNA scientists sampling the New Jersey shore bottle the changing ranges of marine life predicted a decade ago; Fishing DNA from seawater: a harmless, economical way to study marine animals' movements, diversity, distribution ... and perhaps abundance

THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY PROGRAMME FOR THE HUMAN ENVIRONMENT

IMAGE: BRAZILIAN COW NOSE RAY, NEVER KNOWN NORTH OF THE GULF OF MEXICO, FOUND IN THE ATLANTIC OFF NEW JERSEY BY DNA SCIENTISTS view more 

CREDIT: JACQUES BURKHARDT

DNA scientists investigating new marine life migration patterns in the Atlantic Ocean surfaced the genetic traces of species far from their usual southern homes.

A species of ray -- the Brazilian cownose ray, Rhinoptera brasiliensis, and the Gulf kingfish, Menticirrhus littoralis, have been turning up when the weather turns warm in New Jersey's Barnegat Inlet, about a two hour drive south of New York City.

The ray has never before been recorded in the US north of the Gulf of Mexico; the perch-like Gulf kingfish has never before been recorded north of Chesapeake Bay, Virginia, about 250 miles (400 km) to the south.

Led by Mark Stoeckle of The Rockefeller University and published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science, the study involved drawing seawater twice monthly for two years and testing it for genetic material -- DNA contained in cells sloughed off the slimy, gelatinous outer coating of a fish as it swims, for example, in its excretions, in tissue fragments shed in combat with a predator, or after death or injury.

Dr. Stoeckle explains that DNA degrades and disperses within a few days of an animal's departure, but lingers in the water, despite currents and tides, long enough to detect a species' passing presence.

Over two years, from spring 2017 to spring 2019, sampling was conducted at a pair of Barnegat Inlet, NJ sites within a few miles of each other -- an outer shore to sample Atlantic Ocean waters, and inside a sheltered bay.

In 2010, a Census of Marine Life program, the Future of Marine Animal Populations (FMAP), forecast changes in diversity of marine species based on available habitat and anticipated changes in water temperature.

Jesse Ausubel, Director of the Program for the Human Environment at The Rockefeller University, and CoML's co-founder, says the Brazilian cownose ray or Gulf kingfish far north of its known range fits FMAP's prediction, while noting that other explanations remain possible. For example, the animals may have simply evaded New Jersey trawl nets for years.

Found through DNA left behind off the coast New Jersey shore, the perch-like Gulf kingfish has never before been recorded north of Chesapeake Bay, Virginia, about 250 miles (400 km) to the south. With changes in the oceans owing to climate, chemical pollution, debris, noise, night-time illumination, and other factors, "this study further establishes aquatic environmental DNA (eDNA) as an innovative, inexpensive, low-impact way to monitor marine life migrations, changing ranges, diversity and distribution," says Jesse Ausubel  

CREDIT

SEFSC Pascagoula Laboratory; Collection of Brandi Noble, NOAA/

With changes in the oceans owing to climate, chemical pollution, debris, noise, night-time illumination, and other factors, Mr. Ausubel stresses, "this study further establishes aquatic environmental DNA (eDNA) as an innovative, inexpensive, low-impact way to monitor marine life migrations, changing ranges, diversity and distribution."

Says Dr. Stoeckle: "Promising work is also underway to confirm a relationship between the concentration of a species' DNA in seawater and the abundance of that species in the water. If water samples can provide an index of the number or total weight of fish of a given species in a defined ocean area, that offers a potential leap forward for sustainable fisheries and ocean management, improving the rationality with which fish quotas are set and the quality and reliability of their monitoring around the world."

Tony MacDonald, Director of Monmouth University's Urban Coast Institute, which helped initiate the work, adds: "Censusing marine fish and other animals that move typically involves costly, time-consuming surveys with specialized equipment and personnel. eDNA science is granting humanity a very old wish: an easy way to estimate the distribution and abundance of diverse fish species and other forms of aquatic life in the dark waters of rivers, lakes, and seas."

Dr. Stoeckle, who has worked with high school and college students to study New York Harbor and the Hudson River, adds that "the collection process is simple enough for supervised schoolchildren or citizen scientists on any coast anywhere to help monitor the changing ranges of all marine life." Co-author Mithun Das Mishu joined the project when he was a sophomore at Hunter College.

After water is drawn, it is filtered to concentrate the DNA for extraction. The target segment of the DNA is amplified in a laboratory and then sent for "next-generation" sequencing, the result of which--a record of all the DNA sequences in the sample--is fed into computer software that counts the number of copies of each sequence and searches for matches in an online public reference library.

The New Jersey study, co-authored by Mishu and bioinformatics expert Zachary Charlop-Powers, detected bony fish species in consistent seasonal patterns. And they found a small number of species accounted for the great majority of DNA obtained.

Detection of rays and other cartilaginous marine species, meanwhile, was confined mostly to warmer months.

In addition to straining its genetic material from the water, researchers used DNA to identify the decayed remains of a Brazilian cownose ray washed ashore in the sampling area in August 2017.

The researchers also added to growing global databases the first DNA reference sequences for 31 regional species catalogued by New Jersey scientists from trawl surveys over the past 30 years.

A growing number of applications emerging for aquatic environmental DNA (eDNA) tests: an innovative, inexpensive, low-impact way to monitor marine life migrations, changing ranges, diversity and distribution

Dr. Stoeckle's earlier studies of New York's East and Hudson Rivers revealed the presence or absence of several key fish species passing through those waters. The weekly data snapshots created a moving picture that largely reinforced and correlated with knowledge from years of fishnet trawls.

By conducting a series of tests over time, the work pioneered a novel way to record fish migration. eDNA has a goldilocks quality just right for research, Dr. Stoeckle notes: If it disappeared too quickly, sampling wouldn't tell us much; if it lingered too long, too much DNA would be in the water, undermining useful, timely insights.

Next steps include fine tuning calibrations, comparing eDNA "reads" and results with data from traditional surveys conducted with nets and sonar. Do 100 DNA "reads" indicate the presence of 1 fish or 10 fish?

Also to be determined: the rate at which different fish and other marine species shed DNA.

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About The Rockefeller University

http://www.rockefeller.edu/about

About the Program for the Human Environment

phe.rockefeller.edu

Support from the Marine Science and Policy Initiative of the Program for the Human Environment (The Rockefeller University) and the Urban Coast Institute (Monmouth University) initiated the work on aquatic DNA.

About Program for the Human Environment eDNA studies

https://phe.rockefeller.edu/barcode/blog/nycnj-aquatic-vertebrate-edna-project/

Photos of sampling, key tables: https://bit.ly/3coA8rG

Credit: Mark Stoeckle, The Rockefeller University

Other images and tables used in the paper (https://bit.ly/2WD6OXE) are also available on request

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy

PRIVATE FOR PROFIT HEALTH CARE

Illuminating the impact of COVID-19 on hospitals and health systems in the USA

A comparative study of revenue and utilization

FAIR HEALTH

 

IMAGE: A FAIR HEALTH BRIEF, MAY 12, 2020. view more 

CREDIT: WWW.FAIRHEALTH.ORG

NEW YORK, NY--May 12, 2020--In the third week of March 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic escalated, large hospitals in the Northeast experienced a 26 percent decline in average per-facility revenues based on estimated in-network amounts as compared to the same period in 2019. Nationally, the decrease in revenue for large hospitals was 16 percent. These are among the findings of FAIR Health's second COVID-19 study, Illuminating the Impact of COVID-19 on Hospitals and Health Systems: A Comparative Study of Revenue and Utilization.

The third week of March 2020 was the week when thousands of new COVID-19 cases became commonplace in certain parts of the United States, particularly in the Northeast. Hospitals and health systems underwent financial strain as many elective procedures were deferred. FAIR Health's new brief illuminates the financial impact on hospitals by comparing revenues based on estimated in-network amounts on private insurance claims submitted by facilities in the first quarter (January to March) of 2020 with the first quarter of 2019 (adjusted by Consumer Price Index). The first quarter is analyzed month by month, and March is analyzed week by week. Also studied are discharge volume, settings, and diagnoses and procedures.

The study was based on claims data received by April 30, 2020, which meant some claims for services during the period examined were incurred but not reported (IBNR)--valid claims for covered services that had been performed but not yet reported to the insurer. For that reason, the 2019 claims used for the study were limited to those received by April 30, 2019, to produce an "apples to apples" comparison. Notwithstanding the IBNR issue, FAIR Health found that the impact of COVID-19 on hospitals was already substantial and of such public health relevance that it deemed it worthwhile to issue this report. FAIR Health will continue to monitor the data volume in the coming weeks.

Findings include:

• In general, there was an association between larger hospital size and greater impact from COVID-19. Nationally, in large facilities (over 250 beds), average per-facility revenues based on estimated in-network amounts declined from $4.5 million in the first quarter of 2019 to $4.2 million in the first quarter of 2020. The gap was less pronounced in midsize facilities (101 to 250 beds) and not evident in small facilities (100 beds or fewer).
• March was the month when COVID-19 had its greatest impact in the first quarter of 2020. Nationally, in that month, in midsize facilities, the decrease in average per-facility revenues based on estimated in-network amounts in 2020 from 2019 was four percent; in large facilities, five percent.
• Facilities in the Northeast experienced a greater impact from COVID-19 than those in the nation as a whole. For example, in the Northeast, the decline in average per-facility revenues based on estimated in-network amounts in March 2020 from March 2019 was five percent for midsize facilities, nine percent for large ones.
• Both nationally and in the Northeast, the decrease in facility discharge volume (i.e., patient discharges) from March 2019 to March 2020 was greater on a percentage basis than the decrease in revenues based on estimated in-network amounts. For example, in large facilities nationally, the drop in volume was 32 percent; in the Northeast, 40 percent.
• Nationally, the decrease in facility discharge volume in the third week of March 2020 from the corresponding week in 2019 grew significantly compared to the first two weeks; it also appears greater than the decrease in the fourth week. But in the Northeast, in midsize facilities, the fourth week of March had a greater drop (34 percent) than the third week (30 percent).
• From March 2019 to March 2020, the outpatient share of the distribution of estimated in-network amounts by settings decreased relative to the inpatient share. The effect was more pronounced in the Northeast than nationally.
• The third and fourth weeks of March 2020, compared to the corresponding period in 2019, saw several changes in the most common diagnostic categories in the inpatient and ER settings. Nationally and in the Northeast, in the inpatient setting, diseases and disorders of the respiratory system rose in share of distribution by volume and estimated in-network dollars, while in the ER setting, acute respiratory diseases and infections rose.

FAIR Health President Robin Gelburd stated: "With this second study, we again use our data repository to shed light on the impact of COVID-19. As the pandemic continues to test the entire healthcare system, FAIR Health seeks to provide data and analysis to support all the system's participants."

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For the new FAIR Health brief on COVID-19, Illuminating the Impact of COVID-19 on Hospitals and Health Systems: A Comparative Study of Revenue and Utilization, click here.

For the first FAIR Health brief on COVID-19, COVID-19: The Projected Economic Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the US Healthcare System, click here.

Follow us on Twitter @FAIRHealth

About FAIR Health

FAIR Health, a national, independent nonprofit organization that qualifies as a public charity under section 501(c)(3) of the tax code, is dedicated to bringing transparency to healthcare costs and health insurance information through data products, consumer resources and health systems research support. FAIR Health possesses the nation's largest collection of private healthcare claims data, which includes over 31 billion claim records contributed by payors and administrators who insure or process claims for private insurance plans covering more than 150 million individuals. FAIR Health licenses its privately billed data and data products--including benchmark modules, data visualizations, custom analytics and market indices--to commercial insurers and self-insurers, employers, providers, hospitals and healthcare systems, government agencies, researchers and others. Certified by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) as a national Qualified Entity, FAIR Health also receives data representing the experience of all individuals enrolled in traditional Medicare Parts A, B and D; FAIR Health houses data on Medicare Advantage enrollees in its private claims data repository. FAIR Health can produce insightful analytic reports and data products based on combined Medicare and commercial claims data for government, providers, payors and other authorized users. FAIR Health's systems for processing and storing protected health information have earned HITRUST CSF certification and achieved AICPA SOC 2 compliance by meeting the rigorous data security requirements of these standards. As a testament to the reliability and objectivity of FAIR Health data, the data have been incorporated in statutes and regulations around the country and designated as the official, neutral data source for a variety of state health programs, including workers' compensation and personal injury protection (PIP) programs. FAIR Health data serve as an official reference point in support of certain state balance billing laws that protect consumers against bills for surprise out-of-network and emergency services. FAIR Health also uses its database to power a free consumer website available in English and Spanish and an English/Spanish mobile app, which enable consumers to estimate and plan for their healthcare expenditures and offer a rich educational platform on health insurance. The website has been honored by the White House Summit on Smart Disclosure, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), URAC, the eHealthcare Leadership Awards, appPicker, Employee Benefit News and Kiplinger's Personal Finance. FAIR Health also is named a top resource for patients in Dr. Marty Makary's book The Price We Pay: What Broke American Health Care--and How to Fix It and Elisabeth Rosenthal's book An American Sickness: How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take It Back. For more information on FAIR Health, visit fairhealth.org.