People of Black and Asian ethnicity up to twice as likely to be infected with COVID-19 as those of White ethnicity

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR HEALTH RESEARCH

Research News

 

People of Black ethnicity are twice as likely to be infected with COVID-19 compared to those of White ethnicity, according to researchers at the Universities of Leicester and Nottingham, supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Leicester Biomedical Research Centre. The findings are published in EClinical Medicine by The Lancet today (Thursday 12 November 2020).

People from Asian backgrounds are also 1.5 times more likely to become infected with the virus compared to White individuals.

In the first meta-analysis of the effect of ethnicity on clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19, which screened over 1500 articles, the research team pooled data from more than 18 million people who had taken part in 50 studies in the United Kingdom and United States of America. All the studies included in the analysis were published between 1 December 2019 and 31 August 2020 in peer-reviewed journals or as pre-prints waiting for peer-review.

All the patients included in the study who had COVID-19 were defined as such by a positive nasal swab test or clinical signs and symptoms of the virus, along with radiology and laboratory tests.

Researchers also found those of Asian ethnicities to be at higher risk of admission to an intensive therapy unit (ITU) and death. However, all studies investigating ITU admission that were included in the meta-analysis had not yet been peer-reviewed, and the risk of death was only of borderline statistical significance. This is in contrast to the strong evidence of increased risk of infection in Black and Asian ethnic groups.

Dr Manish Pareek, Associate Clinical Professor in Infectious Diseases at the University of Leicester, Consultant in Infectious Diseases at the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust and a senior author on the paper, said: "Our findings suggest that the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Black and Asian communities is mainly attributable to increased risk of infection in these communities.

"Many explanations exist as to why there may be an elevated level of COVID-19 infection in ethnic minority groups, including the greater likelihood of living in larger household sizes comprised of multiple generations; having lower socioeconomic status, which may increase the likelihood of living in overcrowded households; and being employed in frontline roles where working from home is not an option."

Dr Shirley Sze, NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer and Specialist Registrar in Cardiology at the University of Leicester, and a lead author of the paper, said: "The clear evidence of increased risk of infection amongst ethnic minority groups is of urgent public health importance - we must work to minimise exposure to the virus in these at-risk groups by facilitating their timely access to healthcare resources and target the social and structural disparities that contribute to health inequalities."

Dr Daniel Pan, Specialist Registrar in Infectious Diseases at the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust and an NIHR Clinical Academic Fellow at the University of Leicester is a lead author of the paper. He said: "Future papers must try to adjust for the risk of infection when looking at the risk of ITU admission and death in COVID-19 patients, in order for us to accurately assess the impact of ethnicity on an individual's risk of death once they are infected".

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The paper, 'Ethnicity and clinical outcomes in COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis' is published in EClinical Medicine by The Lancet on 12 November 2020.

 

Mental health strained by disaster

Suicide rates increase during hurricanes, tornadoes and other similar events, new research finds

UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE

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Disasters like hurricanes and tornadoes are occurring with increasing frequency and severity across the globe. In addition to impacting local communities, infrastructure and the economy, these disasters also can lead to severe emotional distress and anxiety for those living in their paths.

A team of researchers including the University of Delaware's Jennifer Horney, founding director of the epidemiology program in the College of Health Sciences, examined the impact of 281 natural disasters on suicide rates during a 12-year span.

Horney and others looked at disaster declaration data and found overall suicide rates increased by 23% when compared to rates before and after the disaster. Suicide rates increased for all types of disasters -- including severe storms, floods, hurricanes and ice storms -- with the largest overall increase occurring two years after a disaster, according to an article published in The Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention.

"That finding is important, I think, because those could be preventable deaths with better disaster preparedness and response," Horney said. "It's particularly important to consider the risk of suicide since those with more existing social vulnerabilities live in areas with a greater risk of being damaged by disaster."

The researchers looked at counties in the continental United States with a single major disaster declaration between 2003 and 2015, based on data from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). For each county, suicide rates were estimated for three 12-month periods before and after the disaster. Although FEMA gives disaster declarations for nine types of disasters, storms, floods and hurricanes occurred frequently enough to be included in the study.

For all disaster types combined as well as individually for severe storms, flooding and ice storms, researchers found the suicide rate increased in both the first and second year following a disaster, then declined in the third year. Flooding saw suicide rates increase by nearly 18% the first year and 61% the second year before declining to the baseline rate after that.

By contrast, the suicide rate following hurricanes rose in the first year -- jumping 26% -- then returned to the baseline in the second year. "Counties impacted by hurricanes saw the biggest increase in the rate of suicide in the first year, which makes sense because it's the most widespread type of disaster among those we examined," Horney said.

The study only looked at counties with a single disaster declaration and excluded those with multiple disaster episodes. Therefore, "these data are probably underestimate the association between disaster exposure and suicide because we know that there are a lot of additional mental health impacts from repetitive loss," Horney said.

The findings suggest a need for more mental health resources being made available to address challenges that can arise after a natural disaster, Horney said. Policy changes also should address the duration of these funding resources.

"From a policy perspective, we can use this data to say we should really extend funding for mental health services out at least two years after a disaster because people clearly are not yet recovered, even to their old normal, after one year, when this type of funding typically expires" she said. "The goal cannot be to recover to the pre-disaster status quo. We want those impacted by disasters to recover and be more resilient to the mental health impacts of disasters than they were before."

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Researchers find evidence of pandemic fatigue

USC study also reveals differences in preventive behavior based on gender, race, education, state of residence, health condition, and trusted news source

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

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IMAGE: RESEARCH ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR JUNG KI KIM, USC LEONARD DAVIS SCHOOL OF GERONTOLOGY view more 

CREDIT: SHARON KIM

A new study from the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology shows that the behavioral responses to COVID-19 differed by age. The research, led by Jung Ki Kim, research associate professor at the USC Leonard Davis School, examined how age affected the practice of preventive and risky behaviors in response to COVID-19 and how these behaviors changed over the first three months of the pandemic.

The article was co-authored by University Professor Eileen Crimmins, holder of the AARP Chair in Gerontology, and appeared online in the journal PLOS One on November 10, 2020.

Among the study's findings:

• At the beginning of the quarantine period, older people were no more likely than younger people to practice preventive behaviors in response to the pandemic. In fact, in March, older people were no different from younger people in their engagement in wearing a facemask, washing hands frequently, canceling personal and social activities, and avoiding high-risk people, public places and eating at restaurants. However by May, older people were more likely to implement such behaviors.

• Except for wearing a mask, people adopted preventive activities in the first month but then reduced the modification of their behaviors somewhat after April, so that the percentage of people taking these preventive behaviors was lower in May than April. However, the use of facemasks continued to increase over time such that the percentage in May was about double that of April.

• In terms of risky behaviors, older people were less likely than younger people to have close contact with non-household people and less likely to go to other people's homes a month after the pandemic started. However, both younger and older people tended to resume these potentially risky social behaviors as the pandemic progressed.

"It is encouraging to observe older people taking more preventive personal behaviors as the pandemic progressed as this may have alleviated their risk of infection," said Kim. "However, at the same time, it is concerning that people increased risky social behaviors over time, particularly older people, who could have more adverse consequences from meeting with family and friends."

The researchers speculate that some risky behaviors, such as visiting or being visited by non-household friends and relatives, may be behaviors that people, regardless of age, cannot forgo for months.

Kim and Crimmins analyzed three waves of response data from the Understanding America Study's COVID-19 panel on how often more than 5000 participants, ranging in age from 18 to 101 and categorized into age groups of 18-34, 35-54, 55-64, and 65+, performed five virus-mitigating behaviors during the months of March, April and May of the coronavirus pandemic: (1) wearing a face mask, (2) washing hands with soap or using hand sanitizer several times per day, (3) canceling or postponing personal or social activities, (4) avoiding eating at restaurants, (5) and avoiding public spaces, gatherings or crowds. In addition, they also looked at risky health behaviors: going to another person's residence; having outside visitors such as friends, neighbors or relatives at one's home; attending a gathering with more than 10 people, such as a party, concert or religious service; or having close contact (within six feet) with someone who doesn't live with the respondent.

"Because there is no immediate cure and little treatment for the condition, while scientists are attempting to develop and distribute a vaccine, proper personal and social practices may be the only route to reducing infection for older people," said Kim. "Given more severe consequences for older people once infected, older people should be strongly encouraged to continue taking preventive personal behaviors and not to increase risky behaviors since the virus could be transmitted during these activities."

In addition to age, the researchers also found that other characteristics are related to behavior during the ongoing pandemic: being female, Black, Hispanic or Asian; having a higher education; having underlying conditions; residing in a state where the COVID-19 outbreak was more prevalent; and trusting CNN more than Fox News were all linked to practicing more preventive behaviors in response to COVID-19.

The researchers say that the consistently higher preventive behavioral response of Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians may reflect the knowledge that the pandemic was differentially affecting communities of color. They add that proper work accommodations and protective guidelines may need to be made for persons who are engaging in risky behaviors out of necessity. They also say that people may also respond to state and local government mandates and campaigns on the importance of face covering in states where infection cases are greater, and that apolitical, scientifically based recommendations for behavior through the media could have changed behaviors.

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The collection of the UAS COVID-19 tracking data is supported in part by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and by grant U01AG054580 from the National Institute on Aging. Analysis was supported by the National Institute on Aging, P30 AG017265.

 

Losing the American Dream

Can extended families save black homeowners?

DARTMOUTH COLLEGE

Research News

 

As many Americans struggle to pay their bills, keeping up with mortgage payments can be daunting with the risk of losing one's home. The challenges to retain a home are stratified along racial differences. Black homeowners are twice as likely to lose their homes and transition back to renting than white homeowners, according to a recent Dartmouth-led study published in Demography . African American owners exit their homes at a rate of 10 percent compared with whites' exit rate of five percent. These racial disparities in the loss of homeownership are due in part to Black homeowners having less access to wealth from extended family and higher rates of poverty across family networks.

Due to longstanding structural racism in the housing market, Black individuals have not had the same opportunities to buy into the ownership market as white individuals. Yet, after the Fair Housing Act of 1968 and policies prohibiting discrimination in lending were implemented, Blacks started buying more homes and their likelihood of returning to renting was similar to that of white homeowners. Between the 1970s and early 1990s, homeownership rates among Blacks improved. However, with the onset of the subprime housing market came a surge in predatory lending practices from the mid-1990s to 2008, which disproportionately impacted African Americans and deepened the racial gap in homeownership exits.

This is the first study of its kind to explore how resources among homeowners' extended family networks affect minority households' chances of sustaining homeownership. Using longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, 1984 - 2017, which tracks families across multiple generations, the researchers examined the wealth of a homeowner's family (kin) and extended family members (extra-household kin) who live in another household, including whether the relatives live at or below poverty level. The team also looked at the impact of trigger events such as becoming unemployed, losing a substantial portion of income, and developing a disability.

"Owning your own home in the U.S. has long been associated with achieving the American dream. Historically however, African American households have been excluded not only from the homeownership market but also from neighborhoods due to persistent racial segregation and discrimination," explains Gregory Sharp, an assistant professor of sociology at Dartmouth. "White owners have accrued more wealth from their homes than Black owners, whose neighborhoods are often subjected to systemic racist practices that restrict the potential benefits of homeowning for Black owners. Our study shows that Black homeowners are much more vulnerable to losing their homes than similar white homeowners, in part because they have less kin wealth to draw upon while being much more likely to have impoverished relatives to aid in their housing situations," he added.

The study found that Black homeowners' relatives living outside the home had an average net worth of approximately $133,000 as compared to white homeowners' kin, who had an average net worth of nearly $442,000. White owners' extra-household kin were three times wealthier than that of Blacks. In addition, 24 percent of Black owners' extended relatives living outside the home live in poverty as compared to six percent of that of whites. "Our homeownership exit data show that having extended family who are at the poverty level can be a burden, just as wealthy extended family can be a resource," added Sharp.

Of the five percent Black-white gap in homeownership exit, kin network wealth and poverty account for roughly 20 percent of the gap with roughly half due to wealth and the other half due to poverty. Fifty percent of the homeownership exit gap can be attributed to personal wealth, income and employment status (one's own household economic resources), and trigger events, which can create financial hardship for homeowners.

"To help reduce racial inequalities in transitions out of homeownership, policies designed to reduce racial discrimination in lending practices and programs targeted to sustaining ownership should be implemented," said Sharp. "We know that these types of housing policies have major impacts on peoples' lives and can benefit underserved and vulnerable populations, including African Americans, Latinos and immigrants."

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Sharp is available for comment at: Gregory.K.Sharp@Dartmouth.edu. Ellen Whitehead at Ball State University and Matthew Hall at Cornell University also served as co-authors.

 

Multiracial congregations in US have nearly tripled, Baylor University study finds

But researchers say the study does not conclude that diverse congregations necessarily promote racial justice

BAYLOR UNIVERSITY

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Racially diverse congregations have more than tripled in the United States over the past 20 years, and the percentage of all-white congregations has declined, according to a study by a Baylor University sociologist and two colleagues.

Approximately a quarter of evangelical and Catholic churches are now multiracial -- defined as those in which no one racial or ethnic group comprises more than 80% of the congregants.

Congregations that meet the 80% mark also were more likely to be led by Black clergy in 2019 than in 1998, the period covered in the study, which is published in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. However, Black churches remain the least racially diverse.

"More Americans are attending religious services with others who do not look like them," said Kevin D. Dougherty, Ph.D., associate professor of sociology at Baylor University. "The increase is slow but steady, and there is no sign that we've reached a plateau."

Researchers cautioned that the study does not conclude that diverse congregations necessarily promote racial justice. Whites continue to be overrepresented in the pulpits, with 76% of multiracial congregations led by white ministers. And the authors questioned whether conversations about racial inequality are occurring in these settings.

The study noted researchers and practitioners have examined and debated religion's potential -- or lack of it -- to counter racial divisions. In the past 20 years, numerous studies have focused specifically on racially diverse congregations.

For the study, which included a sample of more than 5,000 congregations, sociologists from Baylor, Duke University and the University of Illinois at Chicago analyzed data from the National Congregations Study, collected in 1998, 2006-2007, 2012 and 2018-2019.

"The National Congregations Study is a major resource for tracking change in American religion. This analysis of trends in ethnic diversity is a great example of the productive use of these data," said Mark Chaves, Ph.D., professor of sociology, religious studies and divinity at Duke University and director of the National Congregations Study.

The study examined trends in five Christian groups: mainline, evangelical, Pentecostal and Black Protestant congregations, as well as Catholics.

The biggest relative change was for mainline Protestants. One in 10 mainline Protestant churches were multiracial in 2018-2019, up from 1 in 100 in 1998.

Results showed these increases from 1998 to 2018-2019:

• 10% of mainline Protestant churches were multiracial, up from 1%.
• 22% percent of evangelical congregations were multiracial, up from 7%.
• 16% of Pentecostals are multiracial, up from 3%.
• Catholic churches on average continue to be more diverse than Protestant churches with 23% multiracial, up from 17%.
• Less than 1% of Black Protestant churches were multiracial in 1998 or 2019.

Despite these changes, difficulties face racial desegregation in American religion, said study co-author Michael O. Emerson, Ph.D., professor of sociology at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

"The path to diversity seems to be a one-way street, with people of color joining white congregations but very few whites joining Black churches," Emerson said. "Until congregations confront the historic structures that keep racial groups divided, diversity inside congregations may function mainly as a superficial performance."

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*The National Congregations Study was funded by a major grant from the Lilly Endowment and additional grants from the John Templeton Foundation, Louisville Institute and Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Publ

How religion can hamper economic progress

Study from Bocconi University on impact of antiscientific curricula of Catholic schools on accumulation of human capital in France during the 2nd Industrial Revolution could hold lessons on impact of religion on technological progress today

BOCCONI UNIVERSITY

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IMAGE: MARA SQUICCIARINI (BOCCONI UNIVERSITY) view more 

CREDIT: PAOLO TONATO

Religion hampered the diffusion of knowledge and economic development in France during the Second Industrial Revolution (1870-1914), according to research by Mara Squicciarini of Bocconi University recently published in the American Economic Review.

By opposing the introduction of technical education in primary schools, the Catholic Church in fact prevented the accumulation of human capital in the most religious areas of the country. Higher levels of religious education translated into significant lower industrial employment 10 to 15 years later, when schoolchildren entered the labor market.

"And these findings have important implications for economic development today," says Professor Squicciarini, "since many developing countries - where religion plays a primary role in the personal and public spheres - are experiencing large-scale technological progress, similar to that of Western Europe during the Second Industrial Revolution."

"The more sophisticated industrial machinery of the Second Industrial Revolution required a technically skilled workforce. Consequently, the French state took an active role in promoting a more technical curriculum to form a skilled labor force," Professor Squicciarini explains. But the Church was promoting a conservative, antiscientific program, hindering the introduction of the technical curriculum and pushing for religious education, while secular schools became increasingly modern and professional, the study shows.

The religious intensity of an area is associated with the diffusion of religious education and this, in turn, is associated with lower industrial development. The effect is sizeable: moving from the tenth to the ninetieth percentile of the share of Catholic schools distribution would decrease the share of industrial employment by 6.2 percentage points, relative to a mean of 28%.

The economic development of areas with a high or low religiosity did not start to diverge, though, until the Second Industrial Revolution, when the school curricula and the accumulation of human capital among the population began to count for industrial development. These results suggest that the relationship between religion and economic development is not inherently negative. Rather, it varies over time, and it becomes negative when religion hinders the adoption of economically useful knowledge.

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Pollution and pandemics: A dangerous mix

Research from Chakrabarty lab finds that as one goes, so goes the other -- to a point

WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS

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IMAGE: ACCORDING TO NEW RESEARCH FROM THE MCKELVEY SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AT WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS, POLLUTION MAY BEAR PART OF THE BLAME FOR THE RAPID PROLIFERATION IN THE UNITED... view more 

CREDIT: PROFESSOR RAJAN CHAKRABARTY, WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS

The United States may have set itself up for the spread of a pandemic without even knowing it.

According to new research from the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, pollution may bear part of the blame for the rapid proliferation in the United States of SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the spread of COVID-19.

The research, from the lab of Rajan Chakrabarty, associate professor in the Department of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering, was published online ahead of print in the journal Science of The Total Environment.

When it comes to how ill someone gets after contracting COVID-19, medical professionals believe that a person's health -- having certain medical conditions, for example -- can play a vital role. When it comes to how fast the virus can spread through the community, it turns out the health of the environment is directly correlated to the basic reproduction ratio R0, which denotes the expected number of people each sick person can infect.

The reproduction ratio R0 of COVID-19 associates directly with the long-term ambient PM2.5 exposure levels. And the presence of secondary inorganic components in PM2.5 only makes things worse, according to Chakrabarty.

"We checked for more than 40 confounding factors," Chakrabarty said. Of all of those factors, "There was a strong, linear association between long-term PM2.5 exposure and R0."

PM2.5 refers to ambient particles with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or less; at that size, they can enter a person's lungs and cause damage. For this reason, PM2.5 can be detrimental to respiratory health. But how this relates to the spread of COVID-19 through a population had yet to be explored.

Chakrabarty and his graduate student Payton Beeler, both aerosol researchers who have done previous coronavirus modeling, became interested in the relationship after two papers were published in quick succession. First, a July paper in the journal Science found that levels of susceptibility to COVID-19 is a driving factor for the pandemic; it is more important than temperature, which researchers initially thought might play an outsized role.

Then in August, research published in the Journal of Infection found that the highest number of cases of COVID-19 with severe illness were in places with higher pollution levels.

"I was thinking, why, in the majority of the U.S. states, have we had such a rapid spread of the virus?" Chakrabarty said. Particularly in the earlier stages of the pandemic. "We wanted to confine our study to the point in time when the shutdown was in place. For the most part, people did remain confined from early March until the end of April."

The team decided to look at places where R0 was greater than one -- that's the point at which one person can spread an illness to more than one person, and the illness takes off. In those places, they looked at 43 different factors -- including population density, age distribution, even time delays in states' stay-at-home orders.

Then, using pollution estimates across the U.S. between 2012 and 2017 published by Randall Martin, professor in the Department of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering, the team looked for any relationships.

Modeling revealed an increase of almost 0.25 in R0 corresponding to a 10% increase in sulfate, nitrogen dioxide and ammonium, or SNA composition and an increase of 1 μg/m3 in PM2.5 mass concentrations, respectively.

They found these linear correlations to be strongest in places where pollution levels were well below National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), the levels of air pollutants that are considered safe for humans.

"Annual mean PM2.5 national standards are set at or below 12 micrograms per cubic meter, below that you are supposed to be safe," Chakrabarty said. "What we saw, the correlation we're seeing is well below that standard." In fact, they saw a rapid increase in R0 when PM2.5 exposure levels were below 6 micrograms per cubic meter.

Chakrabarty hypothesizes this initial increase in R0, which is followed by a plateau once levels hit 6 micrograms per cubic meter, is a result of initial changes in condition; when the air is free of PM2.5 , an individual is unaffected. The initial exposure is the catalyst for change in lung health resulting in a change from non-susceptibility to susceptibility, which is reflected in the increasing R0.

And although there was no direct correlation between black carbon -- a.k.a. soot -- and R0, researchers did find a connection.

"Our collaborators at Saint Louis University suggested a mediation/moderation statistical approach," a detailed analysis that looks at the way additional variables affect the outcome of the initial relationship. In this case, researchers looked at soot's effect on R0, considering SNA's effect.

"We found black carbon acts as a kind of catalyst. When there is soot present, PM2.5 has more of an acute effect on lung health, and therefore on R0."

The mediation/moderation study was not superfluous -- one of the common ways people are exposed to SNA is through pollution emitted from cars and coal-fired power plants. Both of which also emit soot.

"Although decades of strict air quality regulations in the U.S. have resulted in significant reductions of nitrogen dioxide levels," the authors wrote in the paper's conclusion, "recent reversal of environmental regulations which weaken limits on gaseous emissions from power plants and vehicles threaten the country's future air quality scenario."

"Instead of working to resolve this issue, these reversals may be setting us up for another pandemic," Chakrabarty said.

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The authors have made their data and source codes available to the public.

 

RUDN University chemists developed cheap and eco-friendly surfactants (DETERGENTS)

RUDN UNIVERSITY

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IMAGE: AN INTERNATIONAL TEAM INCLUDING CHEMISTS FROM RUDN UNIVERSITY SUGGESTED AN ECONOMICALLY FEASIBLE AND ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY METHOD TO SYNTHESIZE SURFACTANTS. THE NEW COMPOUNDS CAN BECOME AN ECO-FRIENDLY ALTERNATIVE TO TRADITIONAL CHEMICALS... view more 

CREDIT: RUDN UNIVERSITY

An international team including chemists from RUDN University suggested an economically feasible and environmentally friendly method to synthesize surfactants. The new compounds can become an eco-friendly alternative to traditional chemicals used in oil production, skincare products manufacture, and in the pharmaceutical industry to transport drugs to diseased body tissues. The work was published in the Journal of Molecular Liquids.

Surfactants are common both in the industry and in our everyday life. They are used as bases for detergents, added to lubricants and construction materials (concrete mixes, cement, and drilling fluids), and protect equipment from corrosion. The most effective of them are gemini surfactants that contain two hydrophilic (water-attracting) groups. However, there also "pseudo" gemini surfactants that have one hydrophilic and one hydrophobic (water-resistant) group of atoms bound together. An international team of chemists including partners from RUDN University synthesized several new "pseudo" gemini surfactants and confirmed that their performance characteristics were on par with the existing compounds. The new synthesis method is quite cost-efficient, works at room temperature, and does not require expensive reagents.

"The creation of cheap methods for the synthesis of gemini surfactants with satisfactory performance characteristics can be a turning point for the chemistry of detergents. We focused both on the development of synthetic methods and on studying the properties of new compounds," said Fedor Zubkov, a PhD, and an Assistant Professor at the Department of Organic Chemistry, RUDN University.

To create new compounds, the chemists used six common higher fatty acids: capric, lauric, myristic, palmitic, stearic, and oleic acid. The hydrophilic properties of the new surfactants came from amines synthesized based on two affordable reagents--hexamethylenediamine and epoxypropene. To obtain a surfactant, the team dissolved an amine and one one the acids (at the ratio 1:2) in acetone at room temperature and then concentrated the solvent. The final products looked like viscous yellow liquids. The molecules of the surfactants were formed due to electrostatic interaction between oxygen atoms in the carboxylic groups of the acids and amino groups in the amine.

The team at RUDN University conducted a thorough study of the properties of the new compounds and paid special attention to the key characteristic of surfactants--their ability to reduce the superficial tension of solutions and form micelles. It is this property that makes surfactants usable in the skincare industry. The lowest superficial tension values (up to 20 mN/m) were registered for the surfactant based on myristic acid. By this parameter, the new surfactant is almost identical to fluorine-containing ones that are often used in the industry. However, unlike them, the new compound is more environmentally friendly. Weaker chemical bonds make it biodegradable and therefore unlikely to be accumulated in the environment.

Other important characteristics of surfactants are foam formation and foam stability. Five out of six new surfactants formed foam in a water solution, and in the case of two of them (based on lauric and myristic acids), the volume of produced foam exceded the volume of the initial solution 3 to 4 times. The compounds based on palmitic and stearic acids produced less foam, but it was more stable and lasted up to three days. These and other characteristics of the new compounds make them promising for the skincare industry, medicine, anti-corrosion treatment of construction and industrial facilities, and oil recovery increase.

"Gemini surfactants and their synthesis are a burning issue for modern chemistry, as they can potentially replace traditional monomeric surfactants and make the chemical industry move environmentally friendly," added Fedor Zubkov.

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Cannabis to treat gynecological conditions

MARY ANN LIEBERT, INC./GENETIC ENGINEERING NEWS

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IMAGE: CORE MULTIDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL DEDICATED TO THE DISEASES AND CONDITIONS THAT HOLD GREATER RISK FOR OR ARE MORE PREVALENT AMONG WOMEN, AS WELL AS DISEASES THAT PRESENT DIFFERENTLY IN WOMEN. view more 

CREDIT: MARY ANN LIEBERT, INC., PUBLISHERS

New Rochelle, NY, November 10, 2020--A significant number of women would consider using cannabis to treat gynecological conditions, primarily gynecological pain. Women with a history of cannabis use are reported in a study in Journal of Women's Health. Click here ( http://doi.org/10.1089/jwh.2020.8437) to read the article now.

Women who self-medicate with cannabis do so to relieve chronic pelvic pain, menstrual cramps, and pain associated with gynecological cancer or medical procedures such as abortion.

"A larger proportion of women who reported ever using cannabis were willing to use cannabis to treat conditions commonly seen in gynecological practices compared to never-users (91.6% vs. 64.6%)," states Leo Han, MD, MPH, and coauthors, from Oregon Health & Science University. This difference was statistically significant.

"Coinciding with the increased perception of cannabis safety is the increased national recognition of the dangers of opioid pain medications," says the authors.

"In this study, a large proportion of those women who had never used cannabis were willing to try it to treat gynecological pain. Fewer, but still a substantial percentage, would use it for procedural pain or other gynecological conditions," says Journal of Women's Health Editor-in-Chief Susan G. Kornstein, MD, Executive Director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Women's Health, Richmond, VA.

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About the Journal

Journal of Women's Health, (https://home.liebertpub.com/publications/journal-of-womens-health/42) published monthly, is a core multidisciplinary journal dedicated to the diseases and conditions that hold greater risk for or are more prevalent among women, as well as diseases that present differently in women. Led by Editor-in-Chief Susan G. Kornstein, MD, Executive Director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Women's Health, Richmond, VA, the Journal covers the latest advances and clinical applications of new diagnostic procedures and therapeutic protocols for the prevention and management of women's healthcare issues. Complete tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the Journal of Women's Health (https://home.liebertpub.com/publications/journal-of-womens-health/42) website. Journal of Women's Health is the official journal of the Society for Women's Health Research.

About the Publisher

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers (https://www.liebertpub.com) is known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research. A complete list of the firm's 90 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers (https://www.liebertpub.com) website.

 

Some allergens that cause contact dermatitis are found in masks that prevent COVID-19

Challenging case shows use of face mask with elastic bands can worsen allergic skin issues

AMERICAN COLLEGE OF ALLERGY, ASTHMA, AND IMMUNOLOGY

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IMAGE: THIS YEAR'S ACAAI ANNUAL MEETING IS ALL REMOTE! view more 

CREDIT: ACAAI

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill (November 13, 2020) - Throughout the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, those able to wear a face mask have been encouraged to do so to prevent transmission of the virus. For some people with skin allergies, wearing a mask can cause further problems. A medically challenging case presented at this year's virtual American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) Annual Scientific Meeting revealed that for a man with several skin allergies, mask-wearing triggered his contact dermatitis.

"We treated a 60-year-old Black man with adult-onset eczema, contact dermatitis and chronic nasal allergies in our clinic after he presented three times to our hospital emergency room (ER) because of an uncomfortable face rash," says allergist Yashu Dhamija, MD, ACAAI member and lead author of the paper. "Up until April 2020, his skin conditions had been under control, but with mask-wearing, his symptoms began occurring in areas that providers were not yet accustomed to."

The ER doctors who first saw the patient prescribed prednisone for the rash. When his symptoms were not relieved, the patient underwent a follow up telehealth visit with the hospital's allergy clinic. Further investigation revealed his skin allergies had begun to flare in April 2020, coinciding with the pandemic and his mask-wearing.

"We realized that his rash appeared right where the elastic parts of a mask would rest," said allergist Kristin Schmidlin, MD, ACAAI member and co-author of the paper. "We tapered down the prednisone and advised him to use a topical steroid and a topical immunosuppressant until the rash resolved. We also told him to use cotton-based, dye-free masks without elastic. At a follow up telephone visit one week later, the patient said his rash continued to improve."

The authors note common allergens that can affect contact dermatitis are found in masks, elastic bands, and other components of face masks. People with existing skin allergies should work with their allergist. Your board-certified allergist can perform patch testing to help identify specific components in masks which may be triggering symptoms.

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Presentation Title: Facial contact dermatitis due to masks in the COVID-19 era
Presenter: Yashu Dhamija, MD

For more information about skin allergies, or to find an allergist in your area, visit AllergyandAsthmaRelief.org. The ACAAI Virtual Annual Meeting is Nov. 13-15. For more news and research from the ACAAI Scientific Meeting, go to our newsroom - and follow the conversation on Twitter #ACAAI20.

About ACAAI

The ACAAI is a professional medical organization of more than 6,000 allergists-immunologists and allied health professionals, headquartered in Arlington Heights, Ill. The College fosters a culture of collaboration and congeniality in which its members work together and with others toward the common goals of patient care, education, advocacy, and research. ACAAI allergists are board-certified physicians trained to diagnose allergies and asthma, administer immunotherapy, and provide patients with the best treatment outcomes. For more information and to find relief, visit AllergyandAsthmaRelief.org. Join us on Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter.