Researchers solve more of the mystery of Laos megalithic jars

'Plain of Jars' dates put at 1240 to 660 BCE

UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE

Research News

 

IMAGE: DR SHEWAN AND COLLABORATORS PRESENT NEW RADIOCARBON RESULTS FOR SITE USE AND ALSO INTRODUCE GEOCHRONOLOGICAL DATA DETERMINING THE LIKELY QUARRY SOURCE FOR ONE OF THE LARGEST MEGALITHIC SITES. view more 

CREDIT: PLAIN OF JARS ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH PROJECT

New research conducted at the UNESCO World Heritage listed 'Plain of Jars' in Laos has established the stone jars were likely placed in their final resting position from as early as 1240 to 660 BCE.

Sediment samples from beneath stone jars from two of the more than 120 recorded megalithic sites were obtained by a team led Dr Louise Shewan from the University of Melbourne, Associate Professor Dougald O'Reilly from the Australian National University (ANU) and Dr Thonglith Luangkoth from the Lao Department of Heritage.

The samples were analysed using a technique called Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) to determine when sediment grains were last exposed to sunlight.

"With these new data and radiocarbon dates obtained for skeletal material and charcoal from other burial contexts, we now know that these sites have maintained enduring ritual significance from the period of their initial jar placement into historic times," Dr Shewan said.

The megalithic jar sites in Northern Laos comprise one to three-metre-tall carved stone jars, weighing up to 20 tonnes, dotted across the landscape, appearing alone or in groups of up to several hundred.

Dr Shewan and her team completed their most recent excavations in March 2020, revisiting Site 1 (Ban Hai Hin), and arriving back in Australia just before global pandemic international boarder closures.

Site 1 revealed more burials placed around the jars and confirmed earlier observations that the exotic boulders distributed across the site are markers for ceramic burial jars buried below.

Published today in PLOS One, Dr Shewan and collaborators present new radiocarbon results for site use and also introduce geochronological data determining the likely quarry source for one of the largest megalithic sites.

While geologists have used detrital zircon U-Pb dating for several decades, this methodology has recently been used to establish the provenance of ceramic and stone sources in archaeological contexts including Stonehenge.

Conducted at ANU by Associate Professor Richard Armstrong, the U-Pb zircon ages measured in jar samples from Site 1 were compared to potential source material, including a sandstone outcrop and an incomplete jar from a presumed quarry located some 8km away. The zircon age distributions revealed very similar provenance suggesting that this outcrop was the likely source of the material used for the creation of jars at the site.

"How the jars were moved from the quarry to the site, however, remains a mystery," Associate Professor O'Reilly said.

The next challenge for the researchers is to obtain further samples from other sites and from across the geographic expanse of this megalithic culture to understand more about these enigmatic sites and the period over which they were created.

Dr Shewan said this is not an especially easy task given the extensive unexploded ordnance (UXO) contamination in the region where less than 10 per cent of the known jar sites have been cleared.

"We expect that this complex process will eventually help us share more insights into what is one of Southeast Asia's most mysterious archaeological cultures."

The full team of researchers includes La Trobe University, James Cook University, University of Gloucestershire and international collaborators from Laos, New Zealand and Hong Kong.

###

Framed by gender: Women artists erased from peak prices, sales at art auctions

MONASH UNIVERSITY

Research News

IMAGE: ARTWORK PRODUCED BY FEMALE ARTISTS COMPRISE LESS THAN 4 PER CENT OF ART AUCTION SALES, DESPITE A NEAR EQUAL SHARE OF WOMEN AND MEN PURSUING DEGREES IN FINE ARTS, NEW... view more 

CREDIT: MONASH UNIVERSITY

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. However, many women artists - and the stories their works tell - comprise less than 4 per cent of total art sold at auction and fail to attract high selling prices compared to male artists.

A world-first international study by researchers at Monash University, Maastricht University (The Netherlands) and Artnet Worldwide, based in New York City, found that a staggering 96.1 per cent (2,572,346) of all artworks sold at auctions worldwide between 2000 and 2017 are attributed to male artists.

However, work by female artists are on average 4.4 per cent more expensive after controlling for artwork and transaction characteristics. This factor contributes to higher barriers for women to enter the art market, researchers say.

Despite commanding a higher average price for their work, women artists are almost exclusively absent from the top echelons of the total value of art sold at auction. Forty-two men occupy the top 0.03 per cent of the market, where 40 per cent of the sales value is concentrated. Just one woman artist, Joan Mitchell, cracks the top 50.

Findings of this study were published in the Journal of Cultural Economics.

Dr Marina Gertsberg, Lecturer in Banking & Finance in the Monash Business School and co-author of the study, said even with a near equal share of women and men pursuing fine art degrees, women find it more difficult to turn that interest into saleable artwork.

"Women might feel discouraged by their market prospects at the very top, or they might experience discrimination by dealers and buyers who ascribe higher potential to men at the very top. Increasing the visibility of female artists and giving them the chance to compete early on in their careers is therefore most important in improving female representation," Dr Gertsberg said.

"There is currently some movement in this direction. Museums and galleries are increasing the share of female artists on display. This helps buyers to be acquainted with female art and gain more confidence in it."

At the same time, Dr Gertsberg says it is important not to segregate female and male artists.

"For example, 'women-only' exhibits do not allow the audience to compare artworks by males and females and pushes female art to a niche category. Women should be given the chance to compete side-by-side with men," she said.

"The fact that the auction prices are higher for artwork by women than artwork by men, after accounting for artwork style and other characteristics that affect prices, shows that women can compete in the market when given the chance."

This investigation considered the prices paid at auction for artworks created by male and female artists based on birth-identified sex, and how these prices have evolved over time.

Their dataset comprised almost the full population of global art auction transactions from 2000 to 2017, covering more than 1800 auction houses.

In the top echelon of the art market - for sales of greater than $1 million - artworks by male artists sell for 18.4 per cent more than those by female artists. The top 40 artists, consisting solely of men, represent 40 per cent of total market share. Artworks by female artists represent just 3-5 per cent of major permanent collections in the USA and Europe.

While there are about 110,938 male artists with work on display and up for auction at major galleries, there are only 5612 female artists present. The proportion of female artists is highest for contemporary art (9.3 per cent) and the least for artwork from the 'old masters' period (2.9 per cent).

Dr Gertsberg said the career trajectories of female and male artists are likely to diverge very early, and in order to formulate policy, it is important to identify when female artists encounter barriers that forces them to drop out of the profession.

"The fact that we observe higher median prices for female artists indicates that buyers perceive quality of artworks by female artists as overall better than the artworks of male artists. We would not expect this difference in quality if men and women faced the same difficulty in entering the market," Dr Gertsberg said.

"It might seem counterintuitive, but we would like to see the average price for artworks produced by women fall to the level of men. This would imply that the quality of male and female artists is similar and suggest that the playing field is truly equal."

###

This study was a collaboration involving Dr Marina Gertsberg (Monash Business School), Fabian Bocart (Artnet Worldwide Corporation) and Rachel Pownall (Maastricht University). To download a copy of the research paper, please visit https://doi.org/10.1007/s10824-020-09403-2

 

People's trust levels predict willingness to engage in COVID-19 control behaviors

Survey across 23 countries finds trust in government, science, and other citizens predicts engagement

PLOS

Research News

 

Individuals' willingness to engage in COVID-19 control measures is associated with their trust in the government, other citizens, and in particular science, according to a new study published this week in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Stefano Pagliaro of University of Chieti-Pescara, Italy, and colleagues.

The spread of SARS-CoV-2 since December 2019 has posed a severe public health threat to people around the world. As vaccines are being rolled out, behavioral changes are also necessary to counter the spread of the virus. These actions include both prescribed behaviors such as wearing masks, social distancing, and quarantining, as well as discretionary prosocial behaviors like donating to charities and buying supplies for people in quarantine. The willingness of citizens to engage in such behaviors varies greatly.

In the new study, researchers examined factors that may account for these differences in behavior. They collected data on 6,948 people from 23 countries using an online survey in April and May of 2020. Participants provided sociodemographic information and details about their COVID-19 experiences, and answered questions about their moral principles, trust in their government, other citizens, and science and feelings on the importance of adhering to COVID-19 prevention measures.

The results revealed that the country in which people lived accounted for less than 10% of the variance in predicting engagement in prescribed and discretionary behaviors, and the publicized number of infections was not significantly related to individual intentions to engage in either type of behavior. Instead, behavior was largely predicted by individual differences in trust in their government, other citizens, and in particular science. Moreover, the more people endorsed moral principles of fairness and care, the more inclined they were to trust in science and the more likely they were to carry out both prescribed and discretionary behaviors related to COVID-19. Interestingly, factors such as age, gender, and education did not change the overall pattern of results. The authors conclude that communication strategies to encourage behaviors that limit the spread of COVID-19 should be tailored to the broader moral codes of given countries and subgroups of the population.

The authors add: "We considered individuals' intentions to comply with prescribed and discretionary behaviors to manage the spread of COVID-19 in 23 countries and examined the factors that might drive such behavioral intentions. We showed that the publicized statistics of the pandemic in terms of infections and deaths in each country does not represent the only, or even the most important antecedent of individual reactions, as a threat account of the health emergency would suggest. [...] Instead, considering psychological differences in terms of trust toward different agents - governments, citizens, and science - provide a more informative picture of individuals' reactions to COVID-19. " In particular, "[...] The present research further showed that trust in science represents a crucial factor in shaping individuals' behavior in response to the COVID-19 pandemic."

###

Citation: Pagliaro S, Sacchi S, Pacilli MG, Brambilla M, Lionetti F, Bettache K, et al. (2021) Trust predicts COVID-19 prescribed and discretionary behavioral intentions in 23 countries. PLoS ONE 16(3): e0248334. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0248334

Funding: This research was supported by a "Covid-19 Grant" awarded from the European Association of Social Psychology to Stefano Pagliaro and by the Pomilio Blumm Communication Agency. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. There are no restrictions on sharing of data and materials.

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. This research was supported by a "Covid-19 Grant" awarded from the European Association of Social Psychology to Stefano Pagliaro and by the Pomilio Blumm Communication Agency. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

In your coverage please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS ONE: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0248334

Healthy plant-based diet associated with lower stroke risk

HARVARD T.H. CHAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH

Research News

 

Boston, MA - People who eat diets with higher amounts of healthy plant-based foods and lower amounts of less-healthy plant-based foods may reduce their risk of stroke compared to people with lower-quality diets, according to a new study led by researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. They found that healthy plant-based diets--defined as rich in foods such as leafy greens, whole grains, and beans, and including lower levels of foods like refined grains, potatoes, and added sugars--may lower overall stroke risk by up to 10%.

"Our findings have important public health implications, suggesting that future nutrition policies to lower stroke risk should take the quality of food into consideration," said first author Megu Baden, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Nutrition.

The study will be published online March 10, 2021, in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Evidence suggests that plant-based diets may lower the risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and other diseases; however, few studies have looked at whether these diets lower the risk of stroke, and their results have been inconsistent.

In this study, researchers analyzed health data from 209,508 women and men in the Nurses' Health Study, Nurses' Health Study II, and Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, who did not have cardiovascular disease or cancer at the start of their participation. They were followed for more than 25 years and completed diet questionnaires every two to four years.

Participants were scored on diet quality based on the healthfulness of the plant-based foods that they ate. People who ate a serving or less of meat or fish per month were classified as vegetarians.

The researchers found that a healthy plant-based diet--in addition to being linked with 10% lower overall stroke risk--was associated with a modest reduction in risk of ischemic stroke, the most common type of stroke, which occurs when blood flow to the brain is blocked. There was no association found between a healthy plant-based diet and reduced risk of hemorrhagic stroke, which occurs when an artery in the brain leaks blood or ruptures.

In a separate analysis, the researchers did not find any association between a vegetarian diet and lowered risk of stroke, although they noted that the number of study participants classified as vegetarians was small. The researchers suggested that this result--as well as inconsistent results in prior studies looking at plant-based diets and stroke risk--may in part be explained by a high proportion of low-quality plant-based foods in participants' diets.

"Many individuals have been increasing the amount of plant-based components in their diet," said Kathryn Rexrode, associate professor of medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital and co-author of the paper. "These results show that higher intake of healthy plant-based foods may help reduce long-term stroke risk, and that it is still important to pay attention to diet quality of plant-based diets."

###

Other Harvard Chan School co-authors of the study included Zhilei Shan, Fenglei Wang, Yanping Li, JoAnn Manson, Eric Rimm, Walter Willett, and Frank Hu.

This research was funded by grants UM1 CA186107, U01 CA176726, U01 CA167552, R01 HL034594, R01 HL088521, and R01 HL35464 from the National Institutes of Health. Baden was supported by a fellowship from the Manpei Suzuki Diabetes Foundation. Hu was supported by grants HL60712, HL118264, and DK112940 from the National Institutes of Health.

"Quality of Plant-based Diet and Risk of Total, Ischemic, and Hemorrhagic Stroke," Megu Baden, Zhilei Shan, Fenglei Wang, Yanping Li, JoAnn E. Manson, Eric B. Rimm, Walter C. Willett, Frank B. Hu, Kathryn M. Rexrode, Neurology, online March 10, 2021, doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000011713

Visit the Harvard Chan School website for the latest news, press releases, and multimedia offerings.

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health brings together dedicated experts from many disciplines to educate new generations of global health leaders and produce powerful ideas that improve the lives and health of people everywhere. As a community of leading scientists, educators, and students, we work together to take innovative ideas from the laboratory to people's lives--not only making scientific breakthroughs, but also working to change individual behaviors, public policies, and health care practices. Each year, more than 400 faculty members at Harvard Chan School teach 1,000-plus full-time students from around the world and train thousands more through online and executive education courses. Founded in 1913 as the Harvard-MIT School of Health Officers, the School is recognized as America's oldest professional training program in public health.

Soft contact lenses eyed as new solutions to monitor ocular diseases

PURDUE UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

IMAGE: NEW CONTACT LENS TECHNOLOGY TO HELP DIAGNOSE AND MONITOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS MAY SOON BE READY FOR CLINICAL TRIALS. THE TEAM ENABLED COMMERCIAL SOFT CONTACT LENSES TO BE A BIOINSTRUMENTATION TOOL... view more 

CREDIT: PURDUE UNIVERSITY/CHI HWAN LEE

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - New contact lens technology to help diagnose and monitor medical conditions may soon be ready for clinical trials.

A team of researchers from Purdue University worked with biomedical, mechanical and chemical engineers, along with clinicians, to develop the novel technology. The team enabled commercial soft contact lenses to be a bioinstrumentation tool for unobtrusive monitoring of clinically important information associated with underlying ocular health conditions.

The team's work is published in Nature Communications. The Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization helped secure a patent for the technology and it is available for licensing.

"This technology will be greatly beneficial to the painless diagnosis or early detection of many ocular diseases including glaucoma" said Chi Hwan Lee, the Leslie A. Geddes assistant professor of biomedical engineering and assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue who is leading the development team. "Since the first conceptual invention by Leonardo da Vinci, there has been a great desire to utilize contact lenses for eye-wearable biomedical platforms."

Sensors or other electronics previously couldn't be used for commercial soft contact lenses because the fabrication technology required a rigid, planar surface incompatible with the soft, curved shape of a contact lens.

The team has paved a unique way that enables the seamless integration of ultrathin, stretchable biosensors with commercial soft contact lenses via wet adhesive bonding. The biosensors embedded on the soft contact lenses record electrophysiological retinal activity from the corneal surface of human eyes, without the need of topical anesthesia that has been required in current clinical settings for pain management and safety.

"This technology will allow doctors and scientists to better understand spontaneous retinal activity with significantly improved accuracy, reliability, and user comfort," said Pete Kollbaum, the Director of the Borish Center for Ophthalmic Research and an associate professor of optometry at Indiana University who is leading clinical trials.

###

The other members of the team are Bryan Boudouris, a professor of chemical engineering from Purdue, and Baoxing Xu, an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering from the University of Virginia.

This work is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF CMMI-1928784 & 1928788) and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR FA9550-19-1-0271). For more information about licensing opportunities, contact Patrick Finnerty of OTC at pwfinnery@prf.org.

About Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization

The Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization operates one of the most comprehensive technology transfer programs among leading research universities in the U.S. Services provided by this office support the economic development initiatives of Purdue University and benefit the university's academic activities through commercializing, licensing and protecting Purdue intellectual property. The office recently moved into the Convergence Center for Innovation and Collaboration in Discovery Park District, adjacent to the Purdue campus. In fiscal year 2020, the office reported 148 deals finalized with 225 technologies signed, 408 disclosures received and 180 issued U.S. patents. The office is managed by the Purdue Research Foundation, which received the 2019 Innovation and Economic Prosperity Universities Award for Place from the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. In 2020, IPWatchdog Institute ranked Purdue third nationally in startup creation and in the top 20 for patents. The Purdue Research Foundation is a private, nonprofit foundation created to advance the mission of Purdue University. Contact otcip@prf.org for more information.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a top public research institution developing practical solutions to today's toughest challenges. Ranked the No. 5 Most Innovative University in the United States by U.S. News & World Report, Purdue delivers world-changing research and out-of-this-world discovery. Committed to hands-on and online, real-world learning, Purdue offers a transformative education to all. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue has frozen tuition and most fees at 2012-13 levels, enabling more students than ever to graduate debt-free. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap at purdue.edu.

 

Lockdowns linked to rise in eating disorder symptoms

Research by Anglia Ruskin University examined attitudes and behaviour of health club members

ANGLIA RUSKIN UNIVERSITY

Research News

 P

New research indicates that lockdowns to help tackle the spread of COVID-19 could be linked to an increase in symptoms associated with eating disorders.

The longitudinal study, carried out by academics from Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) in Cambridge, England, and published in the journal Psychiatry Research, examined the behaviour and attitudes of 319 health club members during the summer of 2020.

The researchers followed up initial research into addictive or unhealthy behaviours, conducted in 2019, to investigate the effects of the first COVID-19 restrictions introduced in the spring of 2020.

Participants, with an average age of 37, completed the eating attitudes test, called EAT-26, which involved answering questions related to statements such as 'I am terrified about being overweight', 'I have the impulse to vomit after meals', and 'I feel extremely guilty after eating'.

The researchers found that average EAT-26 scores had significantly increased in 2020, post-lockdown, compared to 2019, suggesting higher levels of morbid eating behaviours such as anorexia and bulimia.

However, at the same time the study found a reduction in exercise addiction symptoms post-lockdown, while levels of individual exercise increased from 6.5 hours per week in 2019 to 7.5 hours per week post-lockdown in 2020.

Mike Trott, a PhD researcher at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) who led the study, said: "We can't say for certain that COVID-19 is responsible for this increase in behaviour associated with eating disorders. However, we do know that people often use food as a coping mechanism for stress, and clearly many people have been impacted by stressful events and significant changes over the last 12 months.

"If future lockdowns or periods of enforced quarantine are required, practitioners working with people with suspected eating disorders, such as bulimia and anorexia, should monitor these behaviours closely.

"Encouragingly, we also found that symptoms of exercise addiction fell following the first lockdown, but average exercise rates increased by an hour a week compared to 2019. It could be that the participants in our study were eager to restart their exercise routines post-lockdown and make up for time lost by exercising more. Regardless of motives, there are many physical and mental health benefits to regular exercise, so this is a positive finding."

###

UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES 

Outbreak of a rare, polio-like syndrome likely prevented, postponed by social distancing

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY, WOODROW WILSON SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

Research News

 

Social distancing not only helped slow the spread of COVID-19 -- it also may have prevented the transmission of an outbreak of a rare polio-like syndrome, according to Princeton University researchers.

Though uncommon, acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) is a critical spinal condition that causes weakness in the limbs, seriously diminishes motor function, and can lead to lifelong disabilities. The syndrome was first reported in the United States in 2012 and has been coming back every two years, hinting it could strike again in 2020.

Using epidemiological surveillance tools, the researchers showed that an AFM outbreak was likely to occur in 2020, but social distancing prevented its spread.

The reason was that social distancing reduced the occurrence of a respiratory illness known as enterovirus 68 (EV-D68), which the researchers found is strongly associated with AFM. EV-D68 is a virus found in infants and children that typically causes respiratory issues such as a runny nose, cough, or sneezing. While the definite cause of AFM remains inconclusive, it has been linked to viral infections and past studies have specifically identified a link to EV-68.

The Princeton-led research team sought to better understand the connection between AFM and EV-D68 and whether another outbreak might occur. Their findings, published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, suggest that vaccines targeting EV-D68 could lessen future outbreaks of AFM.

"Though currently uncommon, this syndrome has been increasing in frequency with each successive outbreak since 2014, making it critically important to better understand the patterns and drivers behind it," said first author Sang Woo Park, a Ph.D. student in Princeton's Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology.

"Our results underline the importance of epidemic surveillance for projecting future impact of infectious diseases," said Bryan Grenfell, the Kathryn Briger and Sarah Fenton Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Public Affairs and an associated faculty member in Princeton's High Meadows Environmental Institute.

Grenfell and Park conducted the study with Kevin Messacar of the Children's Hospital at the University of Colorado; Margarita Pons-Salort of Imperial College London; Lindsay Meyers and Camille Cook, former and current employees, respectively, of bioMérieux Inc. or its subsidiaries; and Jeremy Farrar of the Wellcome Trust.

EV-D68 outbreaks have been reported every two years, coinciding with the outbreak pattern of AFM, the researchers said. To confirm this connection, they analyzed patterns of EV-D68 outbreaks using unique surveillance data acquired from BioFire® Syndromic Trends (Trend), a cloud-based network of de-identified pathogen results from around the world collected in near-real time.

The results revealed that EV-D68 outbreaks were occurring every two years in many states, though not all. In states such as Ohio, EV-D68 outbreaks revealed more intricate patterns. Still, the association between EV-D68 and AFM syndrome was strong.

Likely thanks to social distancing, AFM cases remained low in 2020. There were only 31 cases in 2020 compared to 153 cases in 2016 and 238 cases in 2018.

"Fortunately, we saw very little EV-D68 circulation in 2020 and few cases of AFM compared to what was expected, but that makes it even more important to be as prepared as possible for what could be coming in 2021 or beyond," said Park.

###

The paper, "Epidemiological dynamics of enterovirus D68 in the US and implications for acute flaccid myelitis," first appeared online in Science Translational Medicine on March 10. The work was supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the Wellcome Trust, and the Royal Society.

Dog's body size and shape could indicate a greater bone tumour risk

UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL

Research News

 

IMAGE: OSTEOSARCOMA (BONE CANCER) IN DOGS INFOGRAPHIC view more 

CREDIT: VETCOMPASS™

Osteosarcoma is a painful and aggressive bone tumour in dogs that is known to be more common in certain breeds than others. New research has now confirmed that larger breeds, such as Rottweiler, Great Dane and Rhodesian Ridgeback, have a greater risk of osteosarcoma than smaller breeds, as well as showing that breeds with shorter skulls and legs have lower osteosarcoma risk. The findings could inform future breed health reforms as well as studies into the way tumours develop from normal bone.

The study led by the University of Bristol Veterinary School in collaboration with Cardiff University and Royal Veterinary College (RVC) London, and using data from VetCompass™ and Veterinary Pathology Group (VPG) histology, looked at the epidemiology surrounding which dog breeds get osteosarcoma, and what this means for canine welfare. This study also shows the huge benefits from studying dogs as a model to study this cancer. The findings are published in Canine Medicine and Genetics today [10 March].

The study included 1,756 laboratory-confirmed osteosarcoma cases in dogs compared with 905,211 dogs under veterinary care in the VetCompass™ database during 2016.

The research team found twenty-seven breeds, mainly larger breeds, had an increased risk of osteosarcoma compared to crossbreeds. Thirty breeds, mainly smaller breeds, including Jack Russell, Border Terrier, Bichon Frise, French Bulldog, Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, had reduced risk of osteosarcoma compared to crossbreeds.

The study also compared various measures of body mass and leg length, and confirmed previous findings that heavier dogs with longer legs and longer skull shapes are at greatest risk of bone tumours. The results could inform breed health reforms, especially in predisposed breeds such as the Rottweiler, Great Dane and Rhodesian Ridgeback, Mastiff and German Pointer. Whereas previous studies have identified high-risk breeds for bone tumours, this paper is novel by being able to identify breeds at lowest risk because of the huge size of the study population. The breeds identified here could be researched and compared to recognise novel genetic differences which cause bone tumours.

The findings that bone tumours are more common in certain breeds and conformations indicates that a dog's genetics play a role in bone tumour development. This link between the biology of conformation and the biology of bone tumours in dogs provides valuable opportunities for further study into what causes bone tumours to develop, and how they could be treated in the future.

Osteosarcoma can affect any dog breed. However, owners of high-risk breeds should be especially alert for signs of the disease. These include lameness and painful, bony swelling and dog owners should contact their vet if concerned.

Dr Grace Edmunds, Clinical Veterinary Research Fellow and lead author at Bristol Veterinary School, said: "As a vet, I am always focussed on improving animal welfare by looking outwards to find new treatments for their diseases. As osteosarcoma also affects adolescents, it is hugely exciting that by understanding the biology of bone tumours, and working with my collaborators in human cancer research, we may make a difference to both canine and human cancer patients."

Dr Dan O'Neill, Senior Lecturer in Companion Animals Epidemiology at the RVC, added: "There are increasing concerns about the wisdom of breeding dogs with extreme body shapes such as flat-faced breeds like French Bulldogs or breeds with long backs such as Dachshunds.

"This study highlights the health risks from another extreme body shape - large body size. The breeds at highest risk of osteosarcoma were large-sized breeds such as Rottweiler, Great Dane and Mastiff. To reduce the risks of picking a dog that may develop bone cancer, owners may need to consider choosing puppies from smaller-sized parents of these giant breeds or opting for different smaller breeds instead."

Professor Rachel Errington at Cardiff University explained: "As a human cancer researcher at the School of Medicine this study shows that we can propose similar questions in human and canine disease with the aim of determining new therapies and diagnostics for both and this provides an exciting opportunity of joining forces across a diverse group of expertise."

The research team is currently developing a project that will sequence certain genes in at-risk and protected breeds for osteosarcoma, with the aim of identifying those genetic pathways that cause bone tumours to develop from normal bone. Identifying such pathways will allow new drugs, or older, repurposed drugs, to be used to see if the outcomes when treating bone tumours in dogs can be improved.

Drs Grace Edmunds and Helen Winter, members of the study team, will be engaging with owners of dogs with cancer and younger patients who have had cancer as part of a One Health approach, and they would welcome contact from patients or dog owners who would like to participate in this research.

###

Paper

'Dog breeds and body conformations with predisposition to osteosarcoma in the UK: a case-control study' by G. Edmunds et al. (2021) in Canine Medicine and Genetics

Huge potential for electronic textiles made with new cellulose thread

A research team led by Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, now presents a thread made of conductive cellulose, which offers fascinating and practical possibilities for electronic textiles.

CHALMERS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

Research News

 

IMAGE: THE CELLULOSE YARN, WHICH THE RESEARCHERS PRESENT IN THE ARTICLE, IS PRACTICAL TO WORK WITH AND COULD BE USED TO MAKE CLOTHING WITH SMART FUNCTIONS. USING A STANDARD HOUSEHOLD SEWING... view more 

CREDIT: ANNA-LENA LUNDQVIST/CHALMERS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

Electronic textiles offer revolutionary new opportunities in various fields, in particular healthcare. But to be sustainable, they need to be made of renewable materials. A research team led by Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, now presents a thread made of conductive cellulose, which offers fascinating and practical possibilities for electronic textiles.

"Miniature, wearable, electronic gadgets are ever more common in our daily lives. But currently, they are often dependent on rare, or in some cases toxic, materials. They are also leading to a gradual build-up of great mountains of electronic waste. There is a real need for organic, renewable materials for use in electronic textiles," says Sozan Darabi, doctoral student at the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Chalmers University of Technology and the Wallenberg Wood Science Center, and lead author of the scientific article which was recently published in ASC Applied Materials & Interfaces.

Together with Anja Lund, researcher in the same group, Sozan Darabi has been working with electrically conductive fibres for electronic textiles for several years. The focus was previously on silk, but now the discoveries have been taken further through the use of cellulose.

The results now presented by the researchers show how cellulose thread offers huge potential as a material for electronic textiles and can be used in many different ways.

Sewing the electrically conductive cellulose threads into a fabric using a standard household sewing machine, the researchers have now succeeded in producing a thermoelectric textile that produces a small amount of electricity when it is heated on one side - for example, by a person's body heat. At a temperature difference of 37 degrees Celsius, the textile can generate around 0.2 microwatts of electricity.

"This cellulose thread could lead to garments with built-in electronic, smart functions, made from non-toxic, renewable and natural materials," says Sozan Darabi.

The production process for the cellulose thread has been developed by co-authors from Aalto University in Finland. In a subsequent process, the Chalmers researchers made the thread conductive through dyeing it with an electrically conductive polymeric material. The researchers' measurements show that the dyeing process gives the cellulose thread a record-high conductivity - which can be increased even further through the addition of silver nanowires. In tests, the conductivity was maintained after several washes.

Electronic textiles could improve our lives in several ways. One important area is healthcare, where functions such as regulating, monitoring, and measuring various health metrics could be hugely beneficial.

In the wider textile industry, where conversion to sustainable raw materials is a vital ongoing question, natural materials and fibres have become an increasingly common choice to replace synthetics. Electrically conductive cellulose threads could have a significant role to play here too, the researchers say.

"Cellulose is a fantastic material that can be sustainably extracted and recycled, and we will see it used more and more in the future. And when products are made of uniform material, or as few materials as possible, the recycling process becomes much easier and more effective. This is another perspective from which cellulose thread is very promising for the development of e-textiles," says Christian Müller, research leader for the study and a professor at the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Chalmers University of Technology.

This work of the research team from Chalmers is performed within the national research center Wallenberg Wood Science Center, in cooperation with colleagues in Sweden, Finland and South Korea.

CAPTION

The dark yarn is the cellulose yarn and the lighter one is a commercially available silver-plated yarn, both of which are electrically conductive. The researchers have sewn the two threads separately into the fabric, in a special way that gives the fabric its thermoelectronic properties.

CREDIT

Anna-Lena Lundqvist/Chalmers University of Technology

More about: Developing expertise in conductive fibres

Both Sozan Darabi and Christian Müller believe the research has resulted in much more than just the latest scientific publication. Sozan Darabi has developed from a student into a foremost expert in electrically conductive fibre materials, something Christian Müller views as very rewarding, and a great strength for their research team.

Through the national Swedish research center Wallenberg Wood Science Center, a group from Stockholm's Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) has also been involved in the research and publication of the study. The KTH researchers focus on the electrochemical aspects of the fibres. Together with this group from KTH, the Chalmers research team is now planning ways to take the ideas to the next level.

Read earlier press release: Electric textile lights a lamp when stretched

More about: The cellulose thread

The electrically conductive yarn is produced in a "layer-on-layer" coating process with an ink based on the biocompatible polymer "polyelectrolyte complex poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT: PSS)". The e-textile thread developed by the researchers measures a record-high conductivity for cellulose thread in relation to volume of 36 S/cm-, which can be increased to 181 S/cm by adding silver nanowires. The thread coated with PEDOT: PSS can handle at least five machine washes without losing its conductivity. By integrating the cellulose yarn into an electrochemical transistor, the researchers have also been able to demonstrate its electrochemical function.

More about: textiles from nature and fashion industry interest

Throughout human history, textiles have been made from natural fibre and cellulose. But since the middle of the 20th century, synthetic fibres have become more common in our clothing, particularly in the fashion industry. With the greater focus and awareness now on sustainable alternatives, interest in natural fibres and textiles is returning and growing. Large Swedish chains such as H&M and Lindex have set high goals for increasing the proportion of garments produced from more sustainable materials.

The cellulose fibre that the researchers have used is of the Ioncell® type, developed by the Finnish group, led by professor and co-author Herbert Sixta.

CAPTION

The cellulose thread is a renewable and non-toxic electrically conductive material for electronic textiles that can be sewn in an ordinary household sewing machine. It has a record-high conductivity for cellulose yarn and can handle at least five washes without losing its conductivity.

CREDIT

Anna-Lena Lundqvist/Chalmers University of Technology

.

Clinical trial shows alcohol use disorder recovery can start without sobriety

WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

SPOKANE, Wash. - Harm reduction treatment helped people experiencing homelessness and alcohol use disorder reduce their drinking and improve their health-even if they didn't quit drinking alcohol.

In a randomized clinical trial, a research team led by Washington State University psychology professor Susan Collins studied more than 300 people from three Seattle homeless shelters and programs. Participants were randomly assigned to four groups receiving different services: the first group received behavioral harm reduction treatment, which is a form of collaborative counseling that does not require sobriety or drinking reduction, plus an anti-craving medication called naltrexone; the second had the counseling and a placebo; the third, the counseling alone; and the fourth served as a control group receiving regular services.

All three groups that received the behavioral harm reduction treatment over a three-month period saw more improvement than the control group--with the most improvement in the group that had both the counseling and the anti-craving medication.

"We found participants didn't have to stop drinking to start recovery," said Collins, lead author on the study published March 10 in the journal The Lancet Psychiatry. "We didn't ask participants to change their drinking in any particular way, but looking at the averages generated in our statistical models, we found that people who got the combined counseling and medication experienced a 59% reduction during their treatment in the number of drinks consumed on their heaviest drinking day."

Other improvements during the three-month treatment included a 43% reduction in overall alcohol-related harm, a 29% reduction in frequency of drinking and a 10% improvement in people's self-assessment of their physical health.

All participants were asked to fill out surveys at different intervals related to their alcohol use, health and quality of life. While the group that had counseling and medication showed statistically significant improvement on five out of six measures, the other two groups that had harm reduction counseling but no active medication showed statistically significant improvement on three out of the six measures.

The researchers also tested urine samples. Participants who received combined treatment and medication were almost three times more likely to have undetectable levels of an alcohol biomarker than those in the control group, meaning their drinking had declined significantly.

For over a decade, Collins and her co-authors from the University of Washington and the VA Puget Sound Health Care System, have been working together with people who use substances and community-based agencies to develop evidence-based behavioral harm reduction treatment for alcohol use disorder.

The treatment involves a set of three strategies to reduce the negative effects of alcohol use. First, interventionists support patients in setting their own treatment goals instead of dictating that they quit. Second, interventionists and patients discuss ways to stay safer and healthier even when drinking. Third, instead of just tracking sobriety, interventionists work with patients to collaboratively measure and track different kinds of alcohol-related harm that may be important to patients.

Collins said that traditional alcohol treatment programs that demand abstinence fail to help many people experiencing homelessness and alcohol use disorder. By some estimates, people who experience chronic homelessness and alcohol use disorder have, on average, undergone alcohol treatment 16 times in their lives.

"Oftentimes, these folks are labeled 'treatment failures,' but we started to realize after many years of doing this work, maybe it's us, the treatment system that's failing them, more than the other way around," said Collins. "What we do with harm reduction treatment is try to meet people where they are at. Instead of falling into this paternalistic, advice-giving approach that turns people off, we try to support them in reaching their own goals."

Many of the study participants had multiple goals, only some of which involved reducing drinking. As might be expected, the most common goal was finding more stable housing, but other goals included re-connecting with family, finding work and engaging in hobbies they once enjoyed.

While this study included people experiencing homelessness, the findings also hold potential for other people with alcohol use disorder, Collins said.

"This approach has the potential to help anybody who would like to change their alcohol use but might not be ready or able to stop entirely," said Collins. "We can do treatment in an incremental way that might be more sustainable and less demoralizing than going through these cycles, where people feel if they aren't able to stop drinking, they can't start recovery or they aren't good enough for our treatment system. Instead, it is our definition of recovery and our treatment system that needs to change."

###

This study was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and conducted in collaboration with several agencies, including the Downtown Emergency Service Center, Evergreen Treatment Services' REACH program, Pioneer Human Services at the former Dutch Shisler Sobering Support Center, Public Health - Seattle & King County, King County Behavioral Health and Recovery Division, and Catholic Housing Services.