When developing vaccines against COVID-19, 'fast is slow, and slow is fast'

SARS-CoV2 vaccines: Slow is fast

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE

NEWS RELEASE 22-MAY-2020

Bypassing clinical trials for a potential SARS-CoV-2 vaccine would be "catastrophic," says Science Advances deputy editor Douglas Green in this Editorial. Instead, it's vital to take time to ensure any vaccine candidate's safety and investigate potential adverse effects, he says. A vaccine able to trigger strong neutralizing antibody responses in clinical tests will still not be ready for widespread implementation without comprehensive safety tests. For example, vaccines must be examined for causing an effect known as antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE), whereby vaccine-induced antibodies that bind to the virus also attach to the body's cells, facilitating infection of these cells - a concerning phenomenon that has been observed in vaccines against dengue, Ebola, HIV, and feline coronavirus. Ethical accelerated testing on humans should not be ruled out completely, but extreme risks must be weighed against potential benefits, Green says. There are currently 95 vaccines in development against SARS-CoV-2, with most expected to clear Phase I and two experimental vaccines already moving into Phase II trials.

Parasitic wasp discovery offers chemical-free pest control for growers

JOHN INNES CENTRE

 

A species of parasitic wasp discovered by chance could provide growers with a chemical-free way of controlling a major pest.

Researchers made the discovery when the wasps appeared mysteriously in colonies of cabbage stem flea beetles (CSFB) they were studying to test feeding preferences on oilseed rape.

The wasps appeared even though the beetles were confined to potted oilseed rape plants inside micro-perforated bags.

Further exploration revealed that the colonies of around 3000 beetles collected from three sites around Norfolk had been infected by a parasitic wasp that lays eggs within the beetle's body.

Genetic sequencing and enquiries by the Natural History Museum, UK, and the Swedish Museum of Natural History identified the wasp as an obscure species called Microctonus brassicae which was first reported in 2008 with no further identifications until now.

The study carried out by researchers at the John Innes Centre is the first English published description of this parasitoid of the adult CSFB.

Experiments showed that within controlled conditions the presence of wasps in sufficient numbers led to the collapse of CSFB colonies.

Beetle hosts are rendered sterile and die after the wasp larvae emerge from the body after passing through its digestive system. The short generation time of 43.5 days from egg to adult means it would be possible to rapidly rear multiple generations in controlled conditions.

The study raises the possibility of employing Microctonus Brassicae and other species of genetically similar parasitic wasps as a biocontrol to protect oilseed rape and a range of commercially important crops prone to attack by CSFB.

The beetle is a major threat to oilseed rape, particularly the winter crop, throughout the UK and Europe. It causes characteristic damage known as "shot-holing" to leaves often resulting in crop failure or poor crop establishment.

The beetle has become a prominent pest in the UK, particularly in East Anglia, and surrounding counties following the European ban on neonicotinoid seed treatment use in flowering crops.

The ban on these and other systemic pesticides followed research linking their use to decline in pollinators. Further legislation in 2019 upgraded the ban to include other broad-spectrum pesticides.

With the removal of seed treatments for oilseed rape the numbers of CSFB and the damage they cause have increased. Figures for 2014 value damage at £23million with an approximate loss of 3.5% of the national crop area of winter oilseed rape to CSFB.

The estimated best-case crop production for 2020/21 is 1.26 million tonnes, a year on year decline of 489,000 tonnes, putting the future of the valuable UK rapeseed crop in doubt.

Using beneficial insects for biocontrol has been investigated in the past with five species of parasitoid wasps found to target CSFB. But these have demonstrated limited effectiveness and found to be economically unnecessary while the now banned pesticides were in use.

Under captivity in this study M. brassicae rate of parasitism was greater than 44%. The research suggests that the wasp may have the potential to deliver positive effects under field conditions.

Further research has been performed by Rothamsted Research to look at wasp presence and parasitism levels across the UK. Agricultural practices such as promotion of field margins, beetle banks and conservation headland may provide habitats to support the beneficial parasitoids.

"Something that was initially very annoying leading to the collapse of our research colonies has turned out to be fortunate," says lead author Dr Rachel Wells of the John Innes Centre. "It offers the possibility of using parasitoid wasps as bio-controls for farmers and growers of oilseed rape and brassica vegetables against cabbage stem flea beetle as part of an integrated pest management approach."

The research: The potential of the solitary parasitoid Microctonus brassicae for the biological control of the adult cabbage stem flea beetle, Psylliodes chrysocephala is in the journal Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata.

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Photographs/captions

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/vupdtgbtxu4lvgj/AABVfHUUyx3gyG-VZBx2QDvda?dl=0

Article: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/eea.12910

The Lancet: No evidence of benefit for chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine in COVID-19 patients

THE LANCET

A large observational study suggests that treatment with the antimalarial drug chloroquine or its analogue hydroxychloroquine (taken with or without the antibiotics azithromycin or clarithromycin) offers no benefit for patients with COVID-19. The study analysed data from nearly 15,000 patients with COVID-19 receiving a combination of any of the four drug regimens and 81,000 controls.

Treatment with these medications among patients with COVID-19, either alone or in combination with

macrolide antibiotics, was linked to an increased risk of serious heart rhythm complications in these patients.

Researchers suggest these treatment regimens should not be used to treat COVID-19 outside of clinical trials until results from randomised clinical trials are available to confirm the safety and efficacy of these medications for COVID-19 patients.

Chloroquine is an antimalarial drug and its analogue, hydroxychloroquine, is used to treat autoimmune diseases including lupus and arthritis. Both drugs have a good safety profile as treatments for those specific conditions, and the findings do not imply patients should stop taking these drugs if they are prescribed for approved conditions. They have also been shown to have antiviral effects in laboratory tests and are therefore of interest as potential treatments for COVID-19.

Prof Dr Mandeep R. Mehra, lead author of the study and Executive Director of the Brigham and Women's Hospital Center for Advanced Heart Disease in Boston, USA, said: "This is the first large scale study to find statistically robust evidence that treatment with chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine does not benefit patients with COVID-19. Instead, our findings suggest it may be associated with an increased risk of serious heart problems and increased risk of death. Randomised clinical trials are essential to confirm any harms or benefits associated with these agents. In the meantime, we suggest these drugs should not be used as treatments for COVID-19 outside of clinical trials." [1]   

In the study, researchers analysed data from 96,032 patients hospitalised between 20 December 2019 and 14 April 2020 with laboratory confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection from 671 hospitals. All of the patients included in the study had either been discharged or had died by 21 April 2020.

The team compared outcomes from patients treated with chloroquine alone (1,868), hydroxychloroquine alone (3,016), chloroquine in combination with a macrolide (3,783) or hydroxychloroquine with a macrolide (6,221). Patients from these four groups were compared with the remaining control group of 81,144 patients.

At the end of the study period, around one in 11 patients in the control group had died in hospital (9.3%, 7,530/81,144). All four of the treatments were associated with a higher risk of dying in hospital. Of those treated with chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine alone, around one in six patients had died (16.4%, 307/1,868 chloroquine and 18.0%, 543/3,016 hydroxychloroquine). When the drugs were used in combination with a macrolide, the death rate rose to more than one in five for chloroquine (22.2%, 839/3,783) and almost one in four for hydroxychloroquine (23.8%, 1,479/6,221).

Some of the difference in the rates of mortality is due to underlying differences between patients who received the treatments and those who didn't. After accounting for factors including age, race, body mass index and underlying health conditions including heart disease, lung disease and diabetes, the researchers found the drug regimens were associated with an increased risk of death.

They estimated that the excess risk attributable to the use of the drug regimen rather than other factors such as co-morbidities ranged from 34% to 45%. The authors explain that if the rate of mortality is 9.3% in the control group, after adjustment for the other clinical factors, the rate attributable to the use of the drug regimens would rise to 12.4-13.4% . However, the researchers caution that it is not possible to exclude the possibility that other, unmeasured factors were responsible for the apparent link between treatment with these drugs and the decrease in patient survival because such is the design of observational studies, and randomised trials are urgently needed.

The team also found that serious cardiac arrhythmias, which cause the lower chamber of the heart to beat rapidly and irregularly, were more common in the groups receiving either of the four treatment regimens.

The biggest increase was seen in the group treated with hydroxychloroquine in combination with a macrolide, where 8% of patients developed a heart arrhythmia (502/6,221) compared with 0.3% patients in the control group (226/81144). After accounting for demographic factors and pre-existing conditions, the team calculated that treatment with this combination of drugs is associated with a more than five-fold increase in risk of developing a serious heart arrhythmia while in hospital (as an example, an increase from 0.3% to 1.5% would be attributable to the drug regimen after adjustment for other clinical factors). Similarly, it is not possible to conclusively infer cause and effect between treatment with these medications and the onset of heart arrhythmias. Randomised clinical trials will be required before any conclusion can be reached regarding benefit of harm of these agents in COVID-19 patients.

Prof Dr. Frank Ruschitzka, Director of the Heart Center at University Hospital Zurich who also co-authored the study said: "Several countries have advocated use of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, either alone or in combination, as potential treatments for COVID-19. Justification for repurposing these medicines in this way is based on a small number of anecdotal experiences that suggest they may have beneficial effects for people infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. However, previous small-scale studies have failed to identify robust evidence of a benefit and larger, randomised controlled trials are not yet completed. However, we now know from our study that the chance that these medications improve outcomes in COVID-19 is quite low." [1]

Writing in a linked Comment article, Professor Christian Funck-Brentano, of the Sorbonne University in Paris, France (who was not involved in the study), said: "This well-conducted observational study adds to preliminary reports suggesting that chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, alone or with azithromycin is not useful and may be harmful in hospitalized COVID-19 patients."

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Peer reviewed / Observational Study / People

NOTES TO EDITORS

The study involved researchers from the Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School (USA), Surgisphere Corporation (USA), University Hospital Zurich (Switzerland), the University of Utah (USA) and HCA Research Institute (USA). It was funded by the William Harvey Distinguished Chair in Advanced Cardiovascular Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

The labels have been added to this press release as part of a project run by the Academy of Medical Sciences seeking to improve the communication of evidence. For more information, please see: http://www.sciencemediacentre.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/AMS-press-release-labelling-system-GUIDANCE.pdf if you have any questions or feedback, please contact The Lancet press office pressoffice@lancet.com

[1] Quote direct from author and cannot be found in the text of the Article.

For access to the Article and Comment, please see: http://www.thelancet-press.com/embargo/hydroxychloroquine.pdf

Immediate use link (note, the immediate use links will be updated to permanent links later this afternoon UK time on Friday 22 May): https://www.thelancet.com/lancet/article/s0140673620311806

Permanent link (note, the immediate use links will be updated to this permanent link later this afternoon UK time on Friday 22 May): http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31180-6/fulltext

No improvement in death rate for COVID-19 patients who received hydroxychloroquine

In an observational analysis of almost 100,000 hospitalized COVID-19 patients of whom nearly 15,000 received hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine, patients had worse outcomes and heightened risk of ventricular arrythmias
BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL
NEWS RELEASE 22-MAY-2020

Boston, MA -- A research team led by investigators from Brigham and Women's Hospital

has evaluated real-world evidence related to outcomes for COVID-19 patients who were treated with hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine analogues (with or without a macrolide). Investigators found no evidence that either drug regimen reduced the death rate among patients. Patients treated with hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine regimens were far more likely to experience abnormal, rapid heart rhythms (known as ventricular arrhythmias) than their counterparts who had not received the drugs. The team's findings are published in The Lancet.

"No matter which way you examine the data, use of these drug regimens did not help," said corresponding author Mandeep R. Mehra, MD, executive director of the Brigham's Center for Advanced Heart Disease. "If anything, patients had a higher likelihood of death. We also saw a quadrupling in the rate of significant ventricular arrhythmias in patients with COVID-19 who had been treated with hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine regimens."

Mehra and colleagues conducted their study using the Surgical Outcomes Collaborative database, an international registry comprised of de-identified data from 671 hospitals across six continents. The analysis included data on more than 96,000 patients hospitalized with COVID-19. This included almost 15,000 patients who had received the anti-malarial drug chloroquine or its analog hydroxyquinone with or without an antibiotic (macrolides such as azithromycin and clarithromycin) early after COVID-19 diagnosis. The study's primary endpoint was death or discharge from the hospital.

Mehra and colleagues found that 10,698 patients taking one of these drug regimens died in the hospital (11.1 percent) and 85,334 survived to discharge. The team compared this death rate to that of a control group, after accounting for confounding variables, such as age, sex and underlying risk factors. The death rate among the control group was 9.3 percent. Each of the drug regimens of chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine alone, or in combination with a macrolide, was associated with an increased risk of in-hospital death with COVID-19.

In addition, each of the drug regimens was associated with an increase in the risk of ventricular arrhythmia. Among the treatment groups, between 4 and 8 percent of patients experienced a new ventricular arrhythmia, compared to 0.3 percent of patients in the control group.
Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine have been known to cause cardiovascular toxicity and previous studies have shown that macrolides can increase the risk of sudden cardiac death. A preliminary analysis of patients in Brazil treated with chloroquine and an antibiotic has suggested a high dose of chloroquine may be a safety hazard. Results from randomized, controlled clinical trials are not expected until the summer.

The authors caution that the current study is observational in nature -- this means that it cannot absolutely answer the question of whether the drug regimens were solely responsible for the changes in survival. Randomized clinical trials will be required before any conclusion can be reached regarding harm.
 "These findings suggest that these drug regimens should not be used outside of the realm of clinical trials and urgent confirmation from randomized clinical trials is needed," the authors conclude.

The development and maintenance of the Surgical Outcomes Collaborative database was funded by the Surgisphere Corporation. The present analysis was supported by the William Harvey Distinguished Chair in Advanced Cardiovascular Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston. Mehra reports no direct conflicts pertinent to the development of this paper. Other general conflicts include consulting relationships with Abbott, Medtronic, Janssen, Mesoblast, Portola, Bayer, NupulseCV, FineHeart, Leviticus, Roivant and Triple Gene. Dr. Desai is the founder of Surgisphere Corporation, Chicago. The other authors have no pertinent conflicts to report.

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Paper cited: Mehra M et al. "Hydroxychloroquine or Chloroquine with or without a Macrolide and Outcome in COVID-19: A Multinational Registry Analysis" The Lancet DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)31180-6

Brigham Health, a global leader in creating a healthier world, consists of Brigham and Women's Hospital, Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital, the Brigham and Women's Physicians Organization and many related facilities and programs. With more than 1,000 inpatient beds, approximately 60,000 inpatient stays and 1.7 million outpatient encounters annually, Brigham Health's 1,200 physicians provide expert care in virtually every medical and surgical specialty to patients locally, regionally and around the world. An international leader in basic, clinical and translational research, Brigham Health has nearly 5,000 scientists, including physician-investigators, renowned biomedical researchers and faculty supported by over $700 million in funding. The Brigham's medical preeminence dates back to 1832, and now, with 19,000 employees, that rich history is the foundation for its commitment to research, innovation, and community. Boston-based Brigham and Women's Hospital is a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School and dedicated to educating and training the next generation of health care professionals. For more information, resources, and to follow us on social media, please visit brighamandwomens.org.

'Powwow Pop Art' and perseverance

Roger Sosakete Perkins, Mohawk, opens about his unique style, plus struggles he and other artists are facing during the pandemic

Roger Sosakete Perkins, left, and his cousin Jack Martin sit in front of Sosakete Perkins' "Faith Keeper" mixed-media painting on canvas, in his studio. (Photo courtesy of Roger Sosakete Perkins)

Nanette Deetz
Special to Indian Country Today

Out of the hundreds of paintings Roger Sosakete Perkins has created, “Faith Keeper” is among his favorites.

In the Mohawk tradition, the faith keeper’s job is to ensure the tribe’s young people learn its songs, dances and culture, and to find and encourage their hidden gifts.

“I now have five children and one grandchild, and hope I do this not only for my own family, but for everyone who views my art, particularly at this very difficult time in our shared history as Native people,” said Sosakete Perkins, Mohawk.

The pandemic has been hard for artists, especially those like Sosakete Perkins in the highly competitive and expensive San Francisco Bay Area.

The artist best-known for his vivid “Powwow Pop Art” style — in which he “reclaims” old images of Native Americans that were once used in advertising ⁠— has kept working, creating new pieces that reflect his concern. But it hasn't been easy.

 

"Contemporary Sitting Bull" digital collage painting printed on canvas. (Courtesy of Roger Sosakete Perkins)

“It has taken me at least 20 years to be able to completely support myself and my family as an artist, without having to do other types of jobs,” said Sosakete Perkins, who also creates pottery, T-shirts, sculpture and posters. “Now that has all changed.”


He recently hung 20 paintings for an exhibit at a downtown Oakland, California, property management company.

“It is a beautiful space, but no one will show up,” he said.

Many of the shows and events that Sosakete Perkins and other Native artists were relying on to support their families this year have been canceled. For Sosakete Perkins, those included the Santa Fe Indian Market in New Mexico, an exhibit in Prescott, Arizona, the Stanford University Pow Wow, four exhibits at businesses in the San Francisco and Oakland areas and a large exhibition at the Robinson Rancheria casino in Clear Lake, California.

 

"Bear Greeting" digital collage printed on canvas (Courtesy of Roger Sosakete Perkins)

But he knows it’s not just artists who are struggling.

On his birthday this year, Sosakete Perkins created a GoFundMe page asking for donations to Oakland’s Intertribal Friendship House, the first community center established in 1955 for tribal families relocated to the San Francisco Bay area during the federal Relocation Act.


“So many of our families are now suffering terribly from unemployment, lack of food for elders, lack of computers for kids in school who need them in order to study from home,” he said. “This area is one of the most expensive areas in the U.S. in which to live, so many of us are in survival mode. We need our community centers, health centers, and powwows to help us all survive and thrive.”

Sosakete Perkins graduated from the American Indian Institute of Arts, and relocated to Northern California in 2006.

In 2013, he graduated from Berkeley City College after studying digital arts with an instructor who challenged students to literally create their own art movements.

"Indn Star Wars" digital collage printed on canvas (Courtesy of Roger Sosakete Perkins)
That’s where he achieved his unique Powwow Pop Art style, which incorporates painting with vintage photos.

“I use lots of imagery from companies and corporations who have used Native American images in order to sell their products,” he said. “Basically, I am reclaiming our images that they expropriated without our permission, and reframing them in my own way.”

He adds color and dimension to the photos, then layers them with images of nature, such as birds and trees. Some works include copper, buttons and other forms of mixed media.

 

"California Indian Tribal painting," digital painting/collage on canvas (Courtesy of Roger Sosakete Perkins)

He also has been commissioned to do large murals, and he crafts pottery in his tribe’s traditional way. His name, Sosakete, means: “He carries the corn on his back.”


“During the 1600s and 1700s, so many skills had to be left behind due to the effects of colonization,” Sosakete Perkins said. “I found an old piece of pottery one day in the Mohawk Valley in 1993, and something happened to me. I just decided I had to learn to create this form again.”

He did extensive research with an amateur archaeologist, Jan Swart, who “shared his collection with me, and his knowledge of Mohawk Valley.”

Sosakete Perkins began gathering his own materials, making pots “as close to the old way as possible” by mixing quartz and other minerals into the clay.

One of the places he has shown his traditional pottery and Powwow Pop Art is the Gathering Tribes Native American Art Gallery in Albany, California.

 

"Traditional Mohawk Pottery" Cooking Pots ceramics by the artist reproduced into a digital collage (Courtesy of Roger Sosakete Perkins)He has displayed his work there many times over the years, patiently telling customers about his work, said owner Pennie Opal Plant, Chocktaw, Cherokee and Mexica.

“He also conducted the Mohawk Thanksgiving Address several times, which brought many of us to grateful tears. Roger, sometimes accompanied by his brother Kenny, also led customers in traditional Mohawk social dances, which was such a blessing,” she said.


“We are all so grateful to know Roger and appreciate his many talents."

Opal Plant has owned Gathering Tribes for nearly 30 years but decided to close it due to the pandemic and create an online gallery space for American Indian artists.

She will continue showing Sosakete Perkins’ work.

"Roger Sosakete Perkins is a valued member of the Bay Area Native American community, as well as a valued member of the community around Gathering Tribes,” she said.

Sosakete Perkins’ artwork can be viewed on his Facebook page and at www.powwowpopart.com



Nanette Deetz is Dakota and Cherokee originally from Crow Creek, S.D. She is a published poet, actress, and educator now living in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Mississippi Delta marshes in a state of irreversible collapse, Tulane study shows

TULANE UNIVERSIT

 

IMAGE: SALT MARSHES ABOUT 30 MILES (50 KM) SOUTHEAST OF NEW ORLEANS ARE VULNERABLE TO DROWNING. view more 

CREDIT: PHOTO BY TORBJÖRN TÖRNQVIST

Given the present-day rate of global sea-level rise, remaining marshes in the Mississippi Delta are likely to drown, according to a new Tulane University study.

A key finding of the study, published in Science Advances, is that coastal marshes experience tipping points, where a small increase in the rate of sea-level rise leads to widespread submergence.

The loss of 2,000 square miles (5,000 km2) of wetlands in coastal Louisiana over the past century is well documented, but it has been more challenging to predict the fate of the remaining 6,000 square miles (15,000 km2) of marshland.

The study used hundreds of sediment cores collected since the early 1990s to examine how marshes responded to a range of rates of sea-level rise during the past 8,500 years.

"Previous investigations have suggested that marshes can keep up with rates of sea-level rise as high as half an inch per year (10 mm/yr), but those studies were based on observations over very short time windows, typically a few decades or less," said Torbjörn Törnqvist, lead author and Vokes Geology Professor in the Tulane Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.

"We have taken a much longer view by examining marsh response more than 7,000 years ago, when global rates of sea-level rise were very rapid but within the range of what is expected later this century."

The researchers found that in the Mississippi Delta most marshes drown in a few centuries once the rate of sea-level rise exceeds about one-tenth of an inch per year (3 mm/yr). When the rate exceeds a quarter of an inch per year (7.5 mm/yr), drowning occurs in about half a century.

"The scary thing is that the present-day rate of global sea-level rise, due to climate change, has already exceeded the initial tipping point for marsh drowning," Törnqvist said. "And as things stand right now, the rate of sea-level rise will continue to accelerate and put us on track for marshes to disappear even faster in the future."

While these findings indicate that the loss of remaining marshes in coastal Louisiana is probably inevitable, there are still meaningful actions that can be taken to prevent the worst possible outcomes. The most important one, Törnqvist said, is to drastically curb greenhouse gas emissions to prevent sea-level rise from ramping up to rates where marshes will drown within a matter of decades.

The other one is to implement major river diversions as quickly as possible, so at least small portions of the Mississippi Delta can survive for a longer time. However, the window of opportunity for these actions to be effective is rapidly closing, he said.

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Törnqvist conducted the research with Krista Jankowski and Juan González, who received their PhD degrees at Tulane under his supervision, and Yong-Xiang Li, a former postdoc in his group.

Justin Lawrence of the National Science Foundation, which provided funding for the study, added, "The effects of marsh loss are a serious public concern in coastal regions of the United States and elsewhere, and this study could lead to better management decisions that curtail those effects."

Additional funding was provided by the National Institute for Climatic Change Research Coastal Center of the U.S. Department of Energy.

Scientists identify a temperature tipping point for tropical forests

SMITHSONIAN TROPICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE

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IMAGE: AN AERIAL VIEW OF A TROPICAL FOREST ALONG THE EASTERN PACIFIC OCEAN SHORELINE OF BARRO COLORADO ISLAND, PANAMA. view more 

CREDIT: SMITHSONIAN TROPICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE PHOTO

All living things have tipping points: points of no return, beyond which they cannot thrive. A new report in Science shows that maximum daily temperatures above 32.2 degrees Celsius (about 90 degrees Fahrenheit) cause tropical forests to lose stored carbon more quickly. To prevent this escape of carbon into the atmosphere, the authors, including three scientists affiliated with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama, recommend immediate steps to conserve tropical forests and stabilize the climate.

Carbon dioxide is an important greenhouse gas, released as fossil fuels are burned. It is absorbed by trees as they grow and stored as wood. When trees get too hot and dry, they may close the pores in their leaves to save water, but that also prevents them from taking in more carbon. And when trees die, they release stored carbon back into the atmosphere.

Tropical forests hold about 40% of all the carbon stored by land plants. For this study, researchers measured the ability of tropical forests in different sites to store carbon.

"Tropical forests grow across a wide range of climate conditions," said Stuart Davies, director of the Smithsonian's Forest Global Earth Observatories (ForestGEO), a worldwide network of 70 forest study sites in 27 countries. "By examining forests across the tropics, we can assess their resilience and responses to changes in global temperatures. Many other studies explored how individual forests respond to short-term climatic fluctuations. This study takes a novel approach by exploring the implications of thermal conditions currently experienced by all tropical forests."

By comparing carbon storage in trees at almost 600 sites around the world that are part of several different forest monitoring initiatives: RAINFOR, AfriTRON, T-FORCES and ForestGEO, the huge research team led by Martin Sullivan from the University of Leeds and Manchester Metropolitan University found major differences in the amount of carbon stored by tropical forests in South America, Africa, Asia and Australia. South American forests store less carbon than forests in the Old World, perhaps due to evolutionary differences in which tree species are growing there.

They also found that the two most important factors predicting how much carbon is lost by forests are the maximum daily temperature and the amount of precipitation during the driest times of the year.

An aerial view of a tropical forest on the eastern Pacific Ocean shoreline of Barro Colorado Island,Panama. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute photo

As temperatures reach 32.2 degrees Celsius, carbon is released much faster. Trees can deal with increases in the minimum nighttime temperature (a global warming phenomenon observed at some sites), but not with increases in maximum daytime temperature.

They predict that South American forests will be the most affected by global warming because temperatures there are already higher than on other continents and the projections for future warming are also highest for this region. Increasing carbon in the atmosphere may counterbalance some of this loss, but would also exacerbate warming.

Forests can adapt to warming temperatures, but it takes time. Tree species that cannot take the heat die and are gradually replaced by more heat-tolerant species. But that may take several human generations.

"This study highlights the importance of protecting tropical forests and stabilizing the Earth's climate," said Jefferson Hall, co-author and director of the Smithsonian's Agua Salud Project in Panama. "One important tool will be to find novel ways to restore degraded land, like planting tree species that help make tropical forests more resilient to the realities of the 21st century."

The Agua Salud project asks how native tree species adapted to an area can be used to manage water, store carbon and promote biodiversity conservation at a critical point where North and South America connect.

It is also noted that one of the first permanent tropical forest study sites in the world, located at STRI's research station on Barro Colorado Island in Panama, is currently not being monitored for the first time in 40 years as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, giving scientists less of a handle on any climate change effects that may be in play.

Steve Paton, director of STRI's physical monitoring program, notes that in 2019 there were 32 days with maximum temperatures over 32 degrees Celsius at a weather station in the forest canopy on the island, and a first glance at his data indicates that these exceptionally hot days are becoming more common.

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Workers cheered as they enter South Dakota pork plant

The Associated Press

May 20, 2020

The Smithfield plant has instructed many workers to return to work this week as it looks to scale up operations by the end of the month

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Employees at a Smithfield pork processing plant in South Dakota where a coronavirus outbreak infected over 800 people were greeted at work Wednesday with thank-you signs, cheers and waves from about a dozen area residents. 

"They're putting their health at risk just like the hospital workers are to continue on with this work, so I hope they feel appreciated," said Becky Olson, a Sioux Falls resident who held a sign outside Smithfield's entrance.

The plant has instructed many workers to return to work this week as it looks to scale up operations by the end of the month. Masked employees streamed into the factory entrance as trucks carrying pigs rumbled past.

The Smithfield plant, which produces roughly 5 percent of the nation's pork supply, gave an early warning of how quickly the virus can spread in meatpacking plants that are key to the nation's food supply. Two employees at the plant have died from COVID-19, along with more than 20 meat and poultry workers nationwide.

Dave Tesphay, an employee who was reporting to work on Wednesday, said that with the pandemic "it was really scary at first."

Smithfield shut the plant down for three weeks and has installed plexiglass barriers between work stations to prevent infections from spreading. The company is also spreading employees at least 6 feet (1.8 meters) apart when possible.

Tesphay said the plant's closure and safety measures gave him confidence to return. The people who showed up to cheer him on made him feel the community cared, he said.

The event was organized by a group of friends who wanted to give meatpacking workers, many who are immigrants, a show of support similar to what health care workers have received during the pandemic. Sioux Falls mayor Paul TenHaken also got behind the idea, saying he would show up to cheer during the day.

A lesson from 1918: Masked fans

NOT 1917 AS TRUMP INSISTS ON SAYING

This undated photo provided by Georgia Tech alumnus Andy McNeil shows a Georgia Tech home game during the 1918 college football season. The photo was taken by Georgia Tech student Thomas Carter, who would receive a degree in Mechanical Engineering. The 102-year-old photo could provide a snapshot of sports once live games resume: Fans packed in a campus stadium in the midst of a pandemic wearing masks with a smidge of social distance between them on concrete seats. (Thomas Carter via AP)

The Associated Press

7 hours ago

'A lot of people will hesitate to attend sporting events as spectators until there is a proven vaccine'

Dan Gelston

AP Sports Writer

The image is striking: Fans watching a college football game in the midst of a pandemic, wearing masks with a smidge of social distance between them on row after row of bleacher seats.

The photo is 102 years old.

The Georgia Tech alumni Twitter feed posted a black-and-white photo of the scene at Grant Field in 1918. Decades before tailgates, prime-time kickoffs and billions in program-supporting TV money, the ethos of the die-hard college football fan was not much different than today: Risks be damned, we're going to the game.

And once fans are allowed back in stadiums, history has shown that football could come back strong.

"That's really what started the big boom of college football in the 1920s," said Jeremy Swick, historian at the College Football Hall of Fame. "People were ready. They were back from war. They wanted to play football again. There weren't as many restrictions about going out. You could enroll back in school pretty easily. You see a great level of talent come back into the atmosphere. There's new money. It started to get to the roar of the Roaring '20s and that's when you see the stadiums arm race. Who can build the biggest and baddest stadium?"

A comeback seems a long away off even as some schools try to prepare for what many hope will be a full season this fall. For now, headlines are still dominated by discussions about what can be done safely.

"I think a lot of people will hesitate to attend sporting events as spectators until there is a proven vaccine," Georgia Tech professor of sports history Johnny Smith said.

"I think there are parallels in what we can learn from 1918 in terms of how we respond to a pandemic," Smith added. "The cities that were hesitant and didn't impose closure orders as quickly had far more fatalities. I think the lesson we can draw in general from 1918 about how to respond to a pandemic is that closure orders and social distancing is effective."

College football back then was already trying to field teams amid the lingering effects of World War I. There were restrictions on travel, practice and number of games played. The storied Army-Navy game was canceled in 1918 and the lone postseason game was the 1919 Tournament East-West game in Pasadena, California, a game better known today as the Rose Bowl.

The pandemic sickened players and coaches, shortened seasons and even forced some universities to scrap their seasons. On Oct. 13, 1918, The Washington Post carried a story that declared the epidemic "sweeping the country has dealt the death blow to necessary preparations, and with the stage still undetermined, the outlook is anything but bright."

Penn coach Bob Folwell, better known as the first coach of the New York Giants, was hospitalized with Spanish flu and missed six weeks during the 1918 season. West Virginia failed to field a team and at least one player died after a cold turned out to be the virus. The Missouri Valley Conference, which included Kansas, Kansas State and Missouri, shut down for the season. Pittsburgh and Michigan shared the national championship, though neither team played more than five games and all but one was held in November.

In September 1918, the second and by far deadliest wave hit in the U.S., the final blow for teams trying to schedule a full season. The headlines that followed included "Masks for Michigan Men" (Daily Pennsylvanian, Oct. 23) and "Rough Year For Football, But Game Shows Its Mettle" (Chicago Daily Tribune, Oct. 21).

"A lot of them closed up camp, especially once the second wave hit," Swick said.

The pandemic killed more than 50 million people worldwide, including 675,000 in the United States. Even with lower numbers in 2020, Smith said, fans will still be cautious.

"I think generally people are going to be more hesitant to return to stadiums today," Smith said. "I think there will be a certain segment of the population that is more concerned about a second wave. That's another lesson to keep in mind from 1918."

And if fans are allowed, what rules will be in place? The bleak question looms large should campuses open to students in the fall: Is it safe to pack fans inside The Swamp or The 'Shoe if the pandemic is still on?

"I think when we look back on this idea of people wearing masks to attend a football game and raise the question today, would people do that? I'm not sure that people would," Smith said.

College football commissioners in mid-April insisted sports cannot be played this fall if campuses are not open, a stance echoed by NCAA President Mark Emmert. Still, schools are working hard to find ways to play, and there are encouraging signs even if campuses are not fully open in the traditional sense.

Much more is at stake from a century ago: TV money, bowl games, conference championships, cross-country travel all need to be sorted out. In 1918, there were no more than 90 college football teams. There are 130 major college football teams alone in 2020, spread across 41 states and competing in 10 conferences, save for a handful of independents.

To play or not to play is still the essential dilemma a century later but football — and sports — will return at some point, as it did in 1919. The Ogden Standard noted after the sport's yearlong break in the state it was "anxiously awaiting the rustle of the cleated shoes, the line plunges of victory and the return of the greatest of all college sports."

"People really wanted to get back to their lives," Smith said. "Sports is all about the human experience, human connection. We're not meant to isolated. That's a frustration a lot of people have in 1918 and today. I think people not being able to attend sporting events is symbolic of a larger sense of loss in America."

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