Mindfulness meditation may decrease impact of migraine

WAKE FOREST BAPTIST MEDICAL CENTER

Research News

 

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Dec. 14, 2020 - Migraine is a neurological disease that can be severely debilitating and is the second leading cause of disability worldwide. Unfortunately, many patients with migraine discontinue medications due to ineffectiveness or side effects. Many patients still use opioids despite recommendations against them for headache treatment. However, in a recent clinical trial from Wake Forest Baptist Health, researchers showed that mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) may provide benefit to people with migraine.

"Mindfulness-based stress reduction is a mind-body treatment that teaches moment-by-moment awareness through mindfulness meditation and yoga," said Rebecca Erwin Wells, M.D., M.P.H., associate professor of neurology at Wake Forest School of Medicine, part of Wake Forest Baptist Health. "Mindfulness can also teach new ways to respond to stress, a commonly reported migraine trigger."

According to an article published by JAMA Internal Medicine, researchers studied whether MBSR improved migraine outcomes, pain perception and measures of emotional well-being compared to headache education.

In the study, 89 adults with a history of migraine were randomly assigned to either the MBSR group or headache education group with training or instruction delivered in eight weekly two-hour sessions.

The MBSR group followed a standardized curriculum of mindfulness meditation and yoga. Participants also received electronic audio files for home practice and were encouraged to practice at home 30 minutes a day. The headache education group received instruction on headaches, pathophysiology, triggers, stress and treatment approaches.

Participants in both the MBSR and headache education groups reported fewer days with migraine. However, only MBSR also lessened disability and improved quality of life, depression scores and other measures reflecting emotional well-being, with effects seen out to 36 weeks. Further, experimentally induced pain intensity and unpleasantness decreased in the MBSR group compared to the headache education group, suggesting a shift in pain appraisal.

"At a time when opioids are still being used for migraine, finding safe non-drug options with long-term benefit has significant implications," said Wells, who is also the founder and director of the Comprehensive Headache Program at Wake Forest Baptist. "Mindfulness may treat the total burden of migraine and could potentially decrease the impact of this debilitating condition. A larger, more definitive study is needed to confirm these findings."

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Using play to "school" children's emotions

Pretend play promotes the development of socio-emotional competences in children aged five and six.

UNIVERSITÉ DE GENÈVE

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IMAGE: THE FIRST IMAGE SHOWS A "COGNITIVE DISTRACTION " STRATEGY AND THE SECOND A "PROBLEM SOLVING " STRATEGY. view more 

CREDIT: @UNIGE/RICHARD

Being socially and emotionally competent from an early age is likely to help children win acceptance by their peers, build better relationships with teachers, and facilitate academic learning. Pretend play is a pedagogical tool that can be used to stimulate a child's socio-emotional competences. A curriculum based on this approach has been introduced in classes of pupils aged five and six by a research team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), the Valais University of Teacher Education (HEP/Valais), the Vaud University of Teacher Education (HEP/Vaud) and the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University in Italy. The study evaluating the effects of the programme, published in the journal British Journal of Psychology, shows that pupils who followed the curriculum increased their emotional recognition capacities and emotional lexicon compared to a control group. The use of pretend play as a teaching tool enables children to acquire emotional skills, with a potential positive effect on their prosocial behaviour and, in the longer term, on their academic success.

When children start school, pupils with the ability to understand their own emotions and the emotions of others are more likely to regulate them and adapt their behaviour. Accordingly, it is thought that these young pupils will have fewer behavioural problems and will be more inclined to manage their interpersonal relationships in a prosocial manner. «These social and emotional competences foster acceptance by their classmates and allow them to build better relationships with their teachers,» begins Sylvie Richard, a PhD student in developmental psychology in UNIGE's Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, and a Professor at HEP / VS. «Research has shown that these skills also facilitate their ability to focus on learning, and their academic results are better a few years later».

Potential leads for learning do exist, says Édouard Gentaz, full professor in UNIGE's Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences. «We know already that pretend play promotes the understanding and regulation of emotions together with prosocial behaviour in the early stages of schooling. But there are currently very few quantitative studies based on objective measures that systematically incorporate pretend play and its development.» This is why Professor Gentaz's research team set up a study to evaluate the effects of implementing a pretend play-based curriculum in five HarmoS second-year classes in the Swiss canton of Valais.

Learning through pretending

Pretend play gives children the opportunity to use their imagination, in particular by means of scenarios that they invent and the roles they play. «For instance, they can pretend to be a wizard or a witch who's brewing a magic potion that will send a dangerous dragon to sleep. The child creates the rules himself, adjusts them to suit their scenario, and calls on their imagination,» explains Sylvie Richard. For this study, the researcher and her colleagues developed a structured curriculum to exploit this approach through pretend play sessions together with more systematised teaching / learning phases with the pupils around the competences being worked on.

Eleven sessions of around 60 minutes were taught by five teachers at a rate of one session per week. The teachers underpinned the play in terms of the scenario, roles, language, symbolic use of props and playing time. They also got involved in the play phases by giving the pupils challenges, such as playing at pretending to be bursting with joy, solving an interpersonal problem, and so forth. To do this, the teachers received approximately 20 hours of training in socio-emotional competences and on how to support pretend play. A team of control teachers and pupils also formed part of the study so that the researchers could compare the progress of the pupils in the five classes. «It was important that the control group also did the pretend play, although not necessarily focused on scenarios related to socio-emotional competences,» notes Sylvie Richard.

Better recognition of emotions

A total of 79 children took part in the research, with the results showing an improvement in the recognition of emotions, particularly anger. The children also enhanced their emotional vocabulary. «The results suggest, on the one hand, that it's essential to design a teaching system that takes socio-emotional competences and pretend play into account as areas of knowledge that should be taught. On the other hand, the study shows that using this kind of play as a teaching tool helps children experiment, re-apply themselves, and test and take ownership of these competences», concludes Professor Gentaz. Given its success, the study is continuing with a more extensive curriculum, which is being carried out now in the canton of Valais.

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When absolute certainty may not be possible: Criteria to determine death by mountain rescue teams

Evidence-based best practices for making life and death medical decisions in less than ideal circumstances, developed by an international panel and published in Wilderness & Environmental Medicine

ELSEVIER

Research News

 

Philadelphia, December 14, 2020 - The International Commission for Mountain Emergency Medicine (ICAR MedCom) convened an expert medical panel to develop evidence-based criteria that allow for accurate determination of death in mountain rescue situations. These recommendations appear in Wilderness & Environmental Medicine, published by Elsevier.

Activities in remote mountain areas are associated with increased risk of critical injury or fatality. Medical emergencies in the wilderness result in worse outcomes than those that occur where help is more accessible. For example, in the mountain environment, hazards such as rockfalls, avalanches, bad weather or visibility, and low oxygen levels at high altitudes limit rescue capacity and safety. In these situations, especially if close physical examination of an apparently lifeless person is prevented or examination by an authorized person cannot be accomplished, it can be difficult to be absolutely certain that death has occurred.

Guidelines for the determination of death exist, but proper use can be difficult. When mountain rescuers without specific medical knowledge, training, and experience are the first to reach the victim, many factors can be misleading. The ICAR MedCom criteria have been developed to triage decision making to prevent any mistakes during this sometimes difficult task.

"ICAR MedCom brought together a panel of physicians and a forensic pathologist to conduct an extensive literature review to arrive at criteria allowing accurate determination of death even in extreme situations," explained lead author Corinna A. Schön, MD, forensic pathologist from the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Bern, Switzerland, and ICAR MedCom member. "The resulting guidelines will guide rescue teams to differentiate between situations in which interventions like resuscitation can save lives and in which there is no hope of victim survival." The review examined 79 articles identified through PubMed searches on determination of death and related topics.

Recognition of definitive signs of death can be problematic due to the variability in time course and the possibility of mimics. The authors caution that only clear criteria should be used to determine death from a distance or by laypersons who are not medically trained. Definitive signs of death include dependent lividity (skin discoloration of dependent body parts); rigor mortis (stiffening of the body); decomposition; decapitation and other injuries totally incompatible with life; frozen body (chest not compressible); burial/airway obstruction for more than 60 minutes in avalanche victims with asystolic cardiac arrest; observed water submersion for more than 90 minutes; and incineration of all visible body surfaces). The absence of vital signs alone is not definitive. In some situations, a person with no vital signs can be resuscitated.

Because there is international and regional variability in legal regulations, mountain rescuers should be familiar with the applicable regulations in their own areas and should implement specific procedures for determination of death and the management of the event.

Dr. Schön noted, "The safety of rescue teams must always take priority in decisions about whether to undertake a rescue." She added that an incorrect determination of death and a failure to perform resuscitation that lead to a probably avoidable death may have terrible emotional and legal consequences for both next of kin and rescuers.

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Efforts to combat COVID-19 perceived as morally right

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN, NEWS BUREAU

Research News 

IMAGE: WITH HIS COLLEAGUES, FAN XUAN CHEN, A DOCTORAL STUDENT IN PSYCHOLOGY AT THE U. OF I., FOUND THAT PEOPLE IN THE U.S. AND NEW ZEALAND TEND TO MORALIZE COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS... view more 

CREDIT: PHOTO BY L. BRIAN STAUFFER

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- According to new research, people tend to moralize COVID-19-control efforts and are more willing to endorse human costs emerging from COVID-19-related restrictions than to accept costs resulting from other restraints meant to prevent injury or death. The level of support - and resulting outrage in response to perceived violations of this moral ideal - differs between liberals and conservatives.

Reported in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, the study also finds that people are more tolerant of authorities who abuse their power to enforce COVID-19 health restrictions than they are of other abuses for the sake of public health and safety.

"Efforts aimed at eliminating COVID-19 have become moralized to the extent that people tend to overlook the associated costs," said Fan Xuan Chen, a doctoral student in psychology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who conducted the study with Maja Graso, a senior lecturer at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand; and Tania Reynolds, a psychology professor at the University of New Mexico.

"Because COVID-19-related health strategies are so moralized, people really tolerate a wide range of restrictions and are willing to impose penalties on those who violate those strategies or even just speak out in favor of other approaches," Chen said.

Conducted with participants in the U.S. and New Zealand, the research was designed to better understand how moralizing public health issues influences people's perceptions of human suffering. The researchers say they do not advocate for any particular COVID-19-control policy.

"However, our results suggest that in our quest to combat COVID-19, we may overlook the collateral damage from these pursuits," Chen said.

In two experiments, the researchers asked American participants to evaluate the competence of public health experts and to rate their own moral outrage and willingness to shame or punish scientists who made mistakes or advocated for or against COVID-19 protective measures in the interest of saving lives.

In another experiment, Americans evaluated the harms resulting from a police officer who abused their authority to enforce COVID-19 restrictions or to stop people from speeding in traffic.

"In both cases, the degree of human suffering or cost was held constant, such that the officer cited and detained the same number of people to reduce the same number of deaths," Chen said. In each instance, participants decided whether to demote or reduce the pay of the officer - and by how much - and to rate the severity of harm inflicted by the officer.

In a separate experiment, New Zealanders were randomly assigned to evaluate either of two research proposals, one of which asked whether COVID-19-control efforts could cause more human suffering than not trying to control the spread of the disease, and one that asked whether the opposite could be true. Participants were asked to evaluate the quality of the proposal, the societal value of the research, the scientists' prestige and other factors related to the research.

"American participants evaluated the same costs - including public shaming, deaths and illnesses, and police abuse of power - as more acceptable when they resulted from efforts to minimize COVID-19's health impacts than when they challenged such efforts," Chen said. "New Zealanders were more favorably disposed to a research proposal that supported COVID-19-elimination efforts than to one that challenged those efforts, even when the methodological information and evidence supporting both proposals were equivalent."

The willingness to punish or shame a scientist for arguing against COVID-19-related restrictions or for a researcher who accidentally underestimated the severity of the pandemic increased with a participant's own level of concern about the risks associated with COVID-19.

"This pattern suggests that those who feel most vulnerable to COVID-19 could be especially likely to overlook the collateral costs of elimination efforts," Chen said.

In general, participants' willingness to punish a police officer who abused their position to catch people speeding was significantly greater than their desire to punish an officer who violated people's rights to enforce COVID-19-related restrictions.

The researchers also asked participants to indicate whether they were high or low in political conservatism.

"When we looked at the data, we saw that, compared with liberals, people who identify as very conservative have lower moral outrage in response to arguments against COVID-19 restrictions," Chen said. Yet, conservatives also became more outraged than liberals when a scientist challenged the state's decision to keep businesses open.

"So, there's a totally opposite trend in each condition, depending on which political ideology you are affiliated with," Chen said. "In psychology, this kind of crossover effect is very rare, and such a strong crossover effect is even more rare. These patterns suggest liberals and 

USC study: Young adults who identify as Republicans eschew COVID safety precautions

Politization of precautions unexpected among 18- to 25-year-olds

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Research News

 

Young Californians who identify themselves as Republicans are less likely to follow social distancing guidelines that prevent coronavirus transmission than those who identify as Democrats or Independents, according to new USC study published today in JAMA Internal Medicine.

The findings among 18- to 25-year-olds mirror what many have observed about America's politicized response to COVID-19, and are a source of alarm for public health experts. The United States is now averaging 207,000 new cases and 2,319 deaths per day, as of Friday.

"You might expect middle-aged or older adults to have established ideologies that affect their health behavior, but to see it in young adults who have historically been less politically inclined is unexpected," said Adam Leventhal, director of the USC Institute for Addiction Science. "Regardless of age, we would never hope to find results like this. Public health practices should not correlate with politics."

The study was conducted during the summer of 2020 via an online survey that was completed by 2,065 18- to 25-year-olds living predominately in Los Angeles County. The participants were initially recruited as ninth-grade high school students as part of the USC Happiness & Health Project, which has been surveying this group about their health behaviors every six months since 2013.

Of the young adults contacted, 891 identified as Democrat, 148 as Republican, 320 as "Independent or Other," and 706 declined to answer or said they didn't know what political party they identify with.

Researchers found that 24.3% of Republican young adults said they don't frequently social distance from others, compared with just 5.2% of Democrats.

Differences in social distancing practices were also found when Republicans were compared to Independents and young adults who did not report a political party affiliation. Researchers discovered that Republicans versus other groups were more likely to visit public indoor venues such as malls, restaurants, bars or clubs, or attend or host parties with 10 people or more.

Throughout most of the COVID-19 pandemic, California has recommended that all residents practice social distancing and wear a mask when outside the home. Current restrictions prohibit private gatherings of any size.

Leventhal noted that when his team statistically adjusted for 21 factors that could explain the difference in social distancing across political party groups, including propensity for risk-taking behaviors, Republicans were 4 times more likely than the others to be infrequent social distancers.

He also said that the "blue county within a blue state" setting for the study underscores that the link between political party affiliation and social distancing cannot simply be reduced to an issue of urban vs. rural differences.

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In addition to Leventhal, other authors of the politics and social distancing study include Jessica Barrington-Trimis, Rob McConnell, Jennifer Unger, Steve Sussman and Junhan Cho, all of USC; and Hongying Dai of the University of Nebraska.

The study was supported by grants from the National Cancer Institute (R01CA229617) and by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (K24DA048160.)

A non-destructive method for analyzing Ancient Egyptian embalming materials

AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY

Research News

 

IMAGE: RESEARCHERS ANALYZED EMBALMING MATERIAL FROM THE NECK OF THIS ANCIENT EGYPTIAN MUMMY, WHICH WAS ACQUIRED BY A FRENCH MUSEUM IN 1837. view more 

CREDIT: FRÉDÉRIQUE VINCENT, ETHNOGRAPHIC CONSERVATOR

Ancient Egyptian mummies have many tales to tell, but unlocking their secrets without destroying delicate remains is challenging. Now, researchers reporting in ACS' Analytical Chemistry have found a non-destructive way to analyze bitumen -- the compound that gives mummies their dark color -- in Ancient Egyptian embalming materials. The method provides clues to the bitumen's geographic origin and, in one experiment, revealed that a mummy in a French museum could have been partially restored, likely by collectors.

The embalming material used by Ancient Egyptians was a complex mixture of natural compounds such as sugar gum, beeswax, fats, coniferous resins and variable amounts of bitumen. Also known as asphalt or tar, bitumen is a black, highly viscous form of petroleum that arises primarily from fossilized algae and plants. Researchers have used various techniques to analyze Ancient Egyptian embalming materials, but they typically require preparation and separation steps that destroy the sample. Charles Dutoit, Didier Gourier and colleagues wondered if they could use a non-destructive technique called electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) to detect two components of bitumen formed during the decomposition of photosynthetic life: vanadyl porphyrins and carbonaceous radicals, which could provide information on the presence, origin and processing of bitumen in the embalming material.

The researchers obtained samples of black matter from an Ancient Egyptian sarcophagus (or coffin), two human mummies and four animal mummies (all from 744-30 B.C.), which they analyzed by EPR and compared to reference bitumen samples. The team discovered that the relative amounts of vanadyl compounds and carbonaceous radicals could differentiate between bitumen of marine origin (such as from the Dead Sea) and land-plant origin (from a tar pit). Also, they detected vanadyl compounds that likely formed from reactions between the vanadyl porphyrins and other embalming components. Intriguingly, the black matter taken from a human mummy acquired by a French museum in 1837 didn't contain any of these compounds, and it was very rich in bitumen. This mummy could have been partially restored with pure bitumen, probably by a private collector to fetch a higher price before the museum acquired it, the researchers say.

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The authors acknowledge funding from Agence Nationale de la Recherche and the Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France.

The abstract that accompanies this paper is available here.

The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. ACS' mission is to advance the broader chemistry enterprise and its practitioners for the benefit of Earth and its people. The Society is a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related information and research through its multiple research solutions, peer-reviewed journals, scientific conferences, eBooks and weekly news periodical Chemical & Engineering News. ACS journals are among the most cited, most trusted and most read within the scientific literature; however, ACS itself does not conduct chemical research. As a specialist in scientific information solutions (including SciFinder® and STN®), its CAS division powers global research, discovery and innovation. ACS' main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.  

To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org.  

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The un-appeal of banana: liquid e-cigarette flavorings measurably injure lungs

UC San Diego researchers report chemicals used for flavor in e-cigarette liquid negatively affect specialized proteins that support immune system

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - SAN DIEGO

Research News

 

Known for their appetizing flavors, such as bubblegum, banana and strawberry, e-cigarettes continue to grow in popularity around the world. Promoted by makers as a "healthy" alternative to regular tobacco cigarettes, researchers are finding e-cigarettes, or vaping, still result in injury to the lungs.

In a recent study published in the American Journal of Physiology, teams at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, the Royal Adelaide Hospital and the University of Adelaide School of Medicine in Australia found that the flavoring chemicals of e-cigarette vapor alone can measurably damage the lungs, regardless of the presence of nicotine.

"Ninety-nine percent of e-cigarette liquids are flavored. To create these flavor profiles, companies are adding multiple chemicals to achieve that 'perfect' taste," said Laura Crotty Alexander, MD, associate professor of medicine in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at UC San Diego School of Medicine and section chief of Pulmonary Critical Care at Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System. "These chemicals have been found to be toxic to the lungs. When inhaled, they wreak havoc on the lungs and affect specialized protein levels that help keep the body's immune system on track."

Working with 21 different adults who regularly vaped, the team at UC San Diego found changes in certain inflammatory proteins known to cause disease. In each individual who used e-cigarettes, they discovered irregular protein levels within their saliva and airways compared to individuals who did not vape.

Scientists at University of Adelaide then used in vitro methodologies to observe how human airway cells reacted to vapor applied directly to them from 10 flavored liquids used in e-cigarettes. After exposure, they reported that all of the e-liquids damaged cells, with some flavors being more toxic than others.

Combined, the researchers said the data suggests people who use flavored e-cigarettes are damaging their lungs every time they vape. Among the most toxic: chemical profiles for some chocolate and banana flavors.

"Our study demonstrated to us that the name on the bottle is not what is important, it is what goes into the e-liquids and e-cigarettes that matters," said first author Miranda Ween, PhD, senior postdoctoral researcher in the Lung Research Laboratory at the University of Adelaide and Royal Adelaide Hospital, Australia. "Lung cell toxicity and bacterial clearance by the lung's alveolar macrophages was affected by almost every flavor. Chocolate in particular had an unexpectedly high impact, killing almost all the cells and blocking the ability of macrophages to clear away bacteria almost entirely."

Alveolar macrophages initiate inflammatory responses when harmful organisms are detected in the body. Like street sweepers for the lungs, they are powerful immune cells that continuously devour inhaled bacteria and foreign matter entering the lungs.

"Alveolar macrophages are one of the most important immune cells in our lungs; they are designed to maintain the body's homeostasis," said Crotty Alexander. "These macrophages are the first cells to be exposed when a person inhales vapor. When the vapor is toxic, such as in e-cigarettes, these cells trigger an inflammatory response that disrupts the body's homeostasis, resulting in disease and lung damage."

"Our research shows that allowed flavors for e-cigarettes need to be better defined," said Ween. "This could easily be achieved by limiting e-liquids to a single flavoring chemical which has been tested and safety concentrations determined, research that is unfortunately lacking for something that is so popular worldwide."

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Co-authors include: John Shin, Christine Bojanowski, Alex Moshensky, UC San Diego and Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System; Nicole Bastian, Rhys Hamon, Arash Badiei, Phan Tien Nguyen, Kirsty Herewane, Hubertus Jersmann, Paul N. Reynolds, Sandra J. Hodge, University of Adelaide School of Medicine and Royal Adelaide Hospital; Leigh Thredgold, University of Adelaide School of Public Health.

Aroma diffuser and plastic bag offer inexpensive method to test fit of face masks at home

UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

Research News

 

Researchers have developed a way to use a simple home aroma diffuser to test whether N95 and other types of sealing masks, such as KN95 and FFP2 masks, are properly fitted, a result which could be used to help protect healthcare workers and the public from contracting or transmitting COVID-19.

The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, tested a variety of materials to construct a new inexpensive and reliable method for assessing the fit of masks. Commercial testing equipment has been in extremely short supply since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing many healthcare institutions to abandon regular fit-testing of their staff.

Their results, published in the journal Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, found that widely-available alternatives, such as aroma diffusers and extra-large freezer bags, can be used to make a qualitative fit-testing setup which performs at a similar level to commercial solutions.

While commercial kits typically cost several hundred pounds, the Cambridge setup can be made for under £35. In addition to its potential benefits to the healthcare industry, this inexpensive setup can be used by anyone who wants to test the fit of their mask at home.

The researchers caution, however, that their setup will only test the fit of sealing masks with high filtration ability, such as N95, FFP3, KN95 or FFP2 masks. The method cannot be used to test the fit of surgical or fabric masks, as these do not typically offer the fit or filtration necessary to pass a qualitative fit-test.

Sealing masks offer the wearer a high level of protection, but only if they fit properly, with no gaps between the mask and the wearer's face. Previous studies have found that even if the mask material is highly efficient at filtering fine particles, the effectiveness of the mask is hampered by an imperfect seal.

"So far, there has not been an inexpensive, accessible, and reliable way of testing the fit of sealing masks," said Eugenia O'Kelly from Cambridge's Department of Engineering, the study's first author. "Shortages of the fit-testing equipment that healthcare facilities normally use have left some of them unable to test their workers. And those who do not work in healthcare have had no reliable way to ensure their masks fit."

Most healthcare facilities use qualitative fit-testing methods on their staff, as these are faster and cheaper than quantitative methods. Qualitative fit-testing requires three key pieces of equipment: a testing solution, a diffuser to atomise the solution, and a testing hood.

To carry out a typical fit-test, a user places the hood over their head while wearing a mask, and the solution is aerosolised into the enclosure as a fine mist. The solution is usually sweet or bitter. The fit of the mask is assessed by how well the user can taste the solution while nodding their head or speaking. If the mask fits the wearer, they will not be able to taste the solution.

When COVID-19 struck, the increase in demand for fit-testing supplies, combined with breakdowns in manufacturing and supply chains, meant it became very difficult to get qualitative test equipment, with wait times extending weeks or even months.

"Solving the fit-testing supply crisis is critical to enable hospitals and businesses to properly protect their workers," said O'Kelly.

Meanwhile, those outside of healthcare facilities who use non-sealing face masks are left with no reliable way to determine the fit of their masks. "Many people are using KN95 or FFP2 masks," said O'Kelly. "While these masks can offer high levels of protection, they do not fit everyone. We also wanted to offer a way for the public, particularly those who are at high risk, to evaluate the fit of these masks for themselves."

Previous research has assessed the safety and efficacy of homemade testing solutions; however, no effective alternatives to the atomising equipment or enclosures had yet been identified.

Now, the researchers have identified alternatives to these pieces of the testing apparatus which are around a quarter of the cost of commercial equipment and are readily available from many retailers, including Amazon.

To diffuse the solution, the researchers tested an aroma diffuser, humidifier, mist maker and spray bottle. For the enclosure, they tested a plastic bag, testing hood, a clear storage cube and no enclosure. Testers first underwent quantitative fit-testing to assess the fit on their faces before the qualitative methods. Quantitative testing measures the number of particles inside and outside the mask and is highly accurate. However, it is also time-consuming and expensive, which is why qualitative testing is more frequently used in healthcare settings.

Using an N95 mask from 3M and a KN95 mask from a Chinese manufacturer, the testers then assessed the alternative devices and enclosures. A solution of sodium saccharin - an artificial sweetener - was aerosolised for 60 seconds at a time, and testers were asked whether they could taste the sweetener or not. The test was then repeated with the tester causing an intentional gap in the fit by placing the tip of a finger between the mask and their face.

They found that the combination of an aroma diffuser and a small container, such as a large plastic bag, provided the most accurate and most sensitive setup, with results comparable to commercial qualitative fit-testing solutions.

"Our homemade replacement requires further testing for safety and efficacy: in particular, the use of a plastic bag to concentrate the vapour remains a safety concern," said O'Kelly. "However, we were happy to find an inexpensive setup to assess the fit of masks when used in combination with homemade fit-testing solution. Given the importance of masks in slowing the spread of COVID-19 and other airborne viruses, it's essential that they fit properly, especially in healthcare settings."

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Shark fishing bans partially effective

UNIVERSITY OF EXETER

Research News

 

IMAGE: SHARKS IN A MARKET IN SRI LANKA view more 

CREDIT: CLAIRE COLLINS

Bans on shark fishing are only partially effective in protecting sharks, new research suggests.

Scientists from the University of Exeter, international conservation charity ZSL (Zoological Society of London) and Sri Lankan NGO Oceanswell examined the effects of a blanket ban on landing thresher sharks, brought in by the Sri Lankan government in 2012.

Information gathered from local fishers suggests the ban has stopped targeted fishing for the sharks - but persistent "bycatch" (accidental catching) continues.

The study also found that bycatch appears to be widely unrecorded, partly due to "mistrust and confusion" amongst fishers.

"Sri Lanka's long-standing ban offers us an opportunity to assess the impacts of bans, which are increasingly being implemented globally to protect sharks," said lead author Claire Collins, of the University of Exeter and ZSL's Institute of Zoology.

"The ban has almost completely halted targeted fishing for these sharks, so in this sense it has been very successful.

"However, continued bycatch is a problem not only because of the direct impact on this vulnerable species, but also because it makes it tempting for fishers to get round the ban.

"Because it is easy to conceal threshers as other shark species, by cutting fins off before landing, fishers can sell them easily and the ban can be hard for authorities to enforce.

"Without addressing continued bycatch, there's always going to be a temptation to land these sharks - especially because in Sri Lanka there is a strong market for shark meat as well as fins."

The study does not address ways to reduce bycatch, but methods could include local fishing bans in areas known for sharks, modifying fishing gear, and reducing the time gear is left in the water so sharks caught by accident have a higher chance of being freed before they die.

Thresher shark

Oceanswell researchers gathered data from fishers over a ten-month period last year.

Despite many fishers reporting feeling disengaged with authorities in advance of the ban, compliance with it was very high among communities that used to rely on threshers for their livelihoods.

The study notes "unequal" impacts of the ban.

Unsurprisingly, fishers involved in targeted shark fishing were affected most severely, and the researchers say such impacts should be mitigated whenever possible.

Dr Ana Nuno, senior author of the paper, based at University of Exeter and NOVA University Lisbon (Portugal), added: "If we want conservation and fisheries policies to work, we need to get much better at understanding how they might impact resource users and take that into account during policy design.

"That's key to implementing robust policies that deliver positive outcomes for people and biodiversity."

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The study was funded as part of the Bertarelli Programme in Marine Science.

The paper, published in the journal Marine Policy, is entitled: "Using perceptions to examine human responses to blanket bans: The case of the thresher shark landing-ban in Sri Lanka."

How the spread of the internet is changing migration

Team of international researchers trace digital steps along the migration path

MCGILL UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

The spread of the Internet is shaping migration in profound ways. A McGill-led study of over 150 countries links Internet penetration with migration intentions and behaviours, suggesting that digital connectivity plays a key role in migration decisions and actively supports the migration process.

Countries with higher proportions of Internet users tend to have more people who are willing to emigrate. At the individual level, the association between Internet use and intention to migrate is stronger among women and those with less education. The same result was found for economic migrants compared to political migrants, according to the team of international researchers from McGill University, University of Oxford, University of Calabria, and Bocconi University.

"The digital revolution brought about by the advent of the Internet has transformed our societies, economies, and way of life. Migration is no exception in this revolution," says co-author Luca Maria Pesando, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Centre on Population Dynamics at McGill University.

In the study, published in Population and Development Review, the researchers tracked Internet use and migration pathways with data from the World Bank, the International Telecommunication Union, the Global Peace Index, the Arab Barometer, and the Gallup World Poll, an international survey of citizens across 160 countries.

Their findings underscore the importance of the Internet as an informational channel for migrants who leave their country in search of better opportunities. Unlike political migrants, who might be pushed, for example, by the sudden explosion of a civil conflict, economic migrants' decisions are more likely to benefit from access to information provided by the Internet, and more likely to be shaped by aspirations of brighter futures in their destination countries.

"The Internet not only gives us access to more information; it allows us to easily compare ourselves to others living in other - often wealthier - countries through social media," says Pesando.

Case study of Italy

Looking at migration data in Italy - a country that has witnessed sizeable increases in migrant inflows over the past two decades - the researchers found a strong correlation between Internet use in migrants' countries of origin, and the presence of people from that country in the Italian population register in the following year. Tracking migrants including asylum seekers and refugees passing through the Sant'Anna immigration Centre in Calabria, the researchers also found a link between migrants' digital skills and knowledge of the Internet and voluntary departure from the Centre in search of better economic opportunities.

"Our findings contribute to the growing research on digital demography, where Internet-generated data or digital breadcrumbs are used to study migration and other demographic phenomena," says Pesando. "Our work suggests that the Internet acts not just as an instrument to observe migration behaviors, but indeed actively supports the migration process."

As next steps, the research team, which includes Francesco Billari of Bocconi University and Ridhi Kashyap and Valentina Rotondi of University of Oxford, will explore how digital technology and connectivity affect social development outcomes, ranging from women's empowerment to reproductive health and children's wellbeing across generations.

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About the study

"The Internetization of International Migration" by Luca Maria Pesando, Valentina Rotondi, Manuela Stranges, Ridhi Kashyap, and Francesco C. Billari was published in Population and Development Review. The research was supported by the European Research Council (ERC) grant on "Discontinuities in Household and Family Formation.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/padr.12371

About McGill University

Founded in Montreal, Quebec, in 1821, McGill University is Canada's top ranked medical doctoral university. McGill is consistently ranked as one of the top universities, both nationally and internationally. It?is a world-renowned?institution of higher learning with research activities spanning two campuses, 11 faculties, 13 professional schools, 300 programs of study and over 40,000 students, including more than 10,200 graduate students. McGill attracts students from over 150 countries around the world, its 12,800 international students making up 31% of the student body. Over half of McGill students claim a first language other than English, including approximately 19% of our students who say French is their mother tongue.

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