Perinatal patients, nurses explain how hospital pandemic policies failed them

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON

Research News

 

With a lethal, airborne virus spreading fast, hospitals had to change how they treated patients and policies for how caregivers provided that treatment. But for maternity patients and nurses some of those changes had negative outcomes, according to a new University of Washington study.

"We found that visitor restrictions and separation policies were harming families and nurses. The effects for patients included loneliness, isolation and mistrust, while nurses described mistrust and low morale," said Molly Altman, lead author of the study and assistant professor in the UW School of Nursing.

Importantly, Altman added, both nurses and patients described how COVID "amplified existing racially biased and disrespectful care experiences for Black women and birthing people, in part due to loss of protection and advocacy that support people provide."

The study, published March 31 in Global Qualitative Nursing Research, involved in-depth interviews with 15 patients from Washington state and 14 nurses from Washington, New York, Georgia and Michigan. Nearly half of participants in both groups self-identified as BIPOC and for slightly more than half this was their first birth.

Under COVID-19 restrictions, patients experienced a shift from in-person visits, a source of social and emotional support, to virtual conversations or telehealth and more perfunctory exchanges in offices with physical distancing. Pregnancy education and group classes all moved online, while family and friends were excluded from patient care when in the hospital or clinic. Meanwhile, nurses experienced shifting policies and procedures that led to a collective mistrust of management and administration.

In the interviews, researchers wrote, patient responses focused on how hospital adaptations "were inadequate to meet their needs" and, in addition to mistrust, nurse responses focused on how inconsistencies in policies and policy implementation affected their ability to "safely care for patients."

Here are a few verbatim transcriptions of statements patients gave researchers (with minor edits):

About telehealth ...

I want to be able to actually have a check-in and actually have a doctor be able to check everything's fine and make sure the baby's heartbeat is still okay or see how my uterus is measuring and things like that that are more concrete. ... I see the phone conversation just more being like, "Is everything okay," and me saying "Yes" and then that kind of being it.

Communication with providers ...

We don't talk about how this is affecting us or what it means for the future. It's just they leave you hanging like, "Okay, well I'm guessing everything's okay so I'm just going to walk on out of here." But if you could just say something nice, concise and brief but meaty it would be perfect.

Education and nursing support ...

I lost ... the classes that we were supposed to need. I was so excited to join those classes because I could get a chance to meet with other mothers that we may build connections, right? But because of COVID we just don't have the chance of doing that.

People were there [in labor] to support me and to make sure I was okay and then I felt like postpartum everyone disappeared.

Racial bias ...

Being [a person] of color, you already kind of deal with the standoffish approach from certain people and so like ... the virus kind of gives [them] that reason to, it's just like that. It's like even though I already feel this way, now I have a reason to act this way.

I'm an educated Black woman. I'm a nurse. I know what's going on with my body and I know how this stuff works and I still feel like so inferior, like to my [birth] team. That's crazy to me.

Following are a few verbatim transcriptions of statements nurses gave researchers (with minor edits):

Lack of planning ...

I was disappointed to see that in the, at least a month, more like six weeks since we'd had just the one COVID patient, that not a lot had been done to prepare in the meantime, both on a national scale and just at our hospital.

Policy changes ...

I felt like at times on my shift, policies would change literally every 15 to 30 minutes. You do something one way and you get an email within the hour that this now has changed and we're doing this procedure this way and it was just constant like nobody knows what they're doing so it was very stressful.

Morale problems ...

I'm just doing everything for this patient and then I'm not thinking about my own family. Even if I [say] let whatever happen to me ... I have responsibilities for my family too. I'm not just a nurse, right? I'm a mother. When I took the oath to be a nurse, before that maybe I took an oath to be a good mother.

[a patient complained and] that stung because I remember going to my manager's room that day and asking for more supplies so that I could go into the room more frequently without having to break the gowns and reuse the gowns and she said, "You use what you have and I'm not giving you anything else."

Racial bias ...

[obstetrical resident physician] went in to go talk to [a patient] about the need for induction and instead of including the father in the conversation or even introducing herself, she went in, completely turned her back on the dad ... I've been there 10 years and I have never seen that with any Caucasian couple.

"We need to really center the voices and experiences of marginalized people, especially BIPOC, in policy. We need to ensure that communication is transparent and that we are trustworthy to the groups we develop policies for -- patients, nurses, the public, everyone," said Meghan Eagen-Torkko, study co-author and assistant professor in UW Bothell School of Nursing and Health Studies. "We have to stop thinking of policy as a top-down process, because Covid has shown us quite clearly that this doesn't work."

###

Co-authors include Amelia Gavin, UW School of Social Work; Selina Mohammed, UW Bothell School of Nursing and Health Studies; Ira Kantrowitz-Gordon, UW School of Nursing, Seattle; and Rue Khosa, The Perfect Push, LLC in Redmond. This research was funded by UW School of Nursing, Seattle.

For more information, contact Altman at mraltman@uw.edu.

[Inset BOX]

Altman, who spoke to UW News in December about this issue, suggests health care administrators take the following actions to counter the failures of current policies:

• Administrators need to collaborate on policy changes, particularly with communities that are directly affected by these changes
• Consider extending visitor policies to include multiple support people for patients in labor, as a way to mitigate risk of disrespectful care for marginalized communities
• Create educational resources to help patients understand policies that affect them and provide avenues for getting support and reassurance
• Develop clear, organized and transparent communication pathways about policy changes at all levels: patient, nurse and management
• Increase mental health assessment, support and services for both patients and nurses to help build well-being amid crisis
• Include bedside nurses in decisions about care planning, risk management and patient careS

 

The case for embedding equity into incident command

BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL

Research News

 

WHO Eric Goralnick, MD, MS, Medical Director of Emergency Preparedness, Department of Emergency Medicine and the Center for Surgery and Public Health, Brigham and Women's Hospital; co-author of a new editorial published in American Journal of Public Health

Cheryl R. Clark, MD, ScD, Director, Health Equity Research & Intervention, Center for Community Health and Health Equity, Hospitalist, Division of General Medicine & Primary Care, Brigham and Women's Hospital; co-author of a new editorial published in American Journal of Public Health

WHAT During recent large-scale disasters, including the COVID-19 pandemic and major hurricanes, many hospitals and health care systems have activated their Hospital Incident Command System (HICS) to clarify roles and responsibilities and offer a clear organizational structure during a crisis. While forms of these systems have existed since the 1980s, one key element has been missing from HICS national guidelines: a focus on equity.

In a new editorial published in AJPH, Clark and Goralnick, both from the Brigham, and their co-author Richard Serino, NREMT-P, from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, make the case for why a structural change is needed in the national HICS guidelines to ensure inclusion of an Equity Officer and subject matter experts in health care equity.

"The absence of equity as an emergency management principle in responses to COVID-19 has resulted in a slow and incomplete hospital response to the disproportionate mortality and morbidity in several historically marginalized populations," the authors write. "Defining an Equity Officer as a mandatory, core member of the command and general staff is a first step in mitigating inequities."

The authors describe the experience at the Brigham, where a diversity, equity and community health response team was established during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results from an after-action review helped identify strengths and weaknesses of the Brigham's HICS response.

"Many of those involved in the process acknowledged that we are at the beginning and have much work to do to ensure that equity is a core function of our response during the COVID pandemic and in future disasters," the authors write. "On the basis of our observations, we recommend a structural change to the national HICS guidelines: including an Equity Officer and embedded health equity specialists within each section."

###

Gender inequality study shows women under-represented on marketing academic journal boards

Research identifies structural systemic and institutional biases that perpetuate inequality for female academics

UNIVERSITY OF BATH

Research News

 

Women are significantly underrepresented in the editorial boards of marketing academic journals, and awards and recognition favour men, new research from the University of Bath School of Management has found.

In their study 'It's hard to be what you can't see - gender representation in marketing's academic journals', Professor Andrea Prothero of Business and Society at University College Dublin and co-researcher Professor Pierre McDonagh examined gender representation in 20 marketing academic journals through three areas - the gender composition of editorial boards, special issue celebrations and the awards process.

The research found that since 2017 the number of women in editorial board roles had grown by 4.5% and that the number of female editors-in-chief had risen to 39 percent from 18 percent over the same period. But men still held 68% of all editorial board roles and the discrepancy was even greater at the advisory board level.

"The results are stark, disappointing and somewhat shocking. I think many people might expect both marketing and academia to be progressive areas but in 2021 it is simply not acceptable for example, that 88% of advisory board members within our journals are men, or that some journals in our field have never had a female editor-in-chief," McDonagh said.

Prothero said she and McDonagh were moved to study this issue as they believed many scholars were not aware of the scale of the gender discrimination problem in marketing academic journals or of the particular challenges around awards and celebrations of academic achievement.

"Our research also highlighted how journal celebrations also favour men. Special issues for example include reflections from previous editors (who are mostly men), and invited commentaries (who are mostly men). And, where journals and/or their related associations celebrate outstanding research through awards processes, those awards which are named after leading figures in the field are all named after men!" she said.

McDonagh said he and Prothero were not arguing that women are deliberately excluded from awards and recognition, but that structural, systemic and institutional biases meant male colleagues were privileged over women.

"And this of course, also means that injustice and inequality for female academics are perpetuated. Our goal is to get scholars in the marketing academy to think differently about things that are hidden in plain sight. We also want them to join us in asking for meaningful change with respect to existing gender discrimination in the marketing journals," he said.

McDonagh said publishing houses and editors should take four steps towards tackling gender representation issues.

Firstly, build diversity into existing journal review boards, and second, introduce a quota system to ensure diversity of people across advisory boards, manuscript review boards, and in roles such as associate editors, co-editors, and editors-in-chief. Publishing houses in particular, have been discussing more inclusive and diverse editorial boards across academia, but Prothero said it was important to move beyond talk and implement new policies. And, while this study focused on gender representation, other dimensions such as race were equally as important.

"As a third step, we should ask awkward questions of the leaders in our field - why do the majority of named awards in our field honour white men? We request awards which also honour the leading people of colour and females in our field, he said.

Finally, Prothero and McDonagh urged editors-in-chief to celebrate those less visible to others.

"We have female role models for younger scholars to inspire them to greatness, but they are not celebrated or included either in editorial boards or in special issue celebrations to the same extent as men. Let's rectify this. Quite simply the current status quo is an injustice - not everyone is a white male academic, so why do they dominate everything?" he asked.

###

Notes to editors:

For further information please contact Tony Roddam at the University of Bath press office on +44 7971 500460 or press@bath.ac.uk

Pierre McDonagh is Professor of Critical Marketing & Society at the School of Management, University of Bath, UK. Pierre has researched sustainable consumption & production since the early 1990's and helps people understand what sustainable communication entails. He also writes about issues in gender equality in marketing and the benefits and challenges of critical marketing communications. He recently co-authored 'The Dark Side of Marketing Communications' with Tim Hill, which features as part of the Routledge series on Studies in Critical Marketing.

Andrea Prothero is Professor of Business and Society in the UCD College of Business at University College Dublin, Ireland, and Co- Director of the UCD Centre for Business and Society (CeBaS). Her research broadly explores the area of Marketing in Society with a key focus on sustainability and gender issues.

University of Bath

The University of Bath is one of the UK's leading universities both in terms of research and our reputation for excellence in teaching, learning and graduate prospects.

The University is rated Gold in the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), the Government's assessment of teaching quality in universities, meaning its teaching is of the highest quality in the UK.

In the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 research assessment 87 per cent of our research was defined as 'world-leading' or 'internationally excellent'. From developing fuel efficient cars of the future, to identifying infectious diseases more quickly, or working to improve the lives of female farmers in West Africa, research from Bath is making a difference around the world. Find out more: http://www.bath.ac.uk/research/

Well established as a nurturing environment for enterprising minds, Bath is ranked highly in all national league tables. We are ranked 6th in the UK by The Guardian University Guide 2021, and 9th in both The Times & Sunday Times Good University Guide 2021 and the Complete University Guide 2021. Our sports offering was rated as being in the world's top 10 in the QS World University Rankings by Subject in 2021.

 

Fewer breast cancer cases between screening rounds with 3D-mammography

LUND UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

3D-mammography reduces the number of breast cancer cases diagnosed in the period between routine screenings, when compared with traditional mammography, according to a large study from Lund University in Sweden. The results are published in the journal Radiology.

"Our results indicate that 3D-mammography, or digital breast tomosynthesis, possibly detects cancers that would otherwise have been diagnosed later at a more advanced stage", says Kristin Johnson, doctoral student at Lund University and radiology resident at Skåne University Hospital.

A large prospective screening study conducted at Skåne University Hospital in Malmö (Malmö Breast Tomosynthesis Screening Trial) between 2010 and 2015 included almost 15,000 women who received both 3D-mammography and traditional mammography. In 2018, the researchers published results from the trial showing that 3D-mammography detects just over 30 percent more cases of breast cancer compared to traditional mammography.

This time, the researchers compared cancers detected in between screenings, so called interval cancers. The women who received 3D-mammography were matched by age and screening date with women in a control group who were screened using regular mammography. A total of 13,369 women were included in the study and 26,738 women in the control population.

The number of interval cancer cases can be used to assess a screening method's effectiveness in detecting cancer and potential to reduce breast cancer mortality in the long run, and is one of the most important outcome measures to take into account in discussions about possibly switching to 3D-mammography as a screening method. The researchers also compared the types of breast cancer involved as well as the extent of the spread of cancer in the patients.

"Among the study participants who received 3D-mammography, we found that it was less likely, 40 percent lower odds, to get interval cancer compared to the control group that was screened with regular mammography. Interval cancer cases generally have a relatively aggressive biological profile with faster growing tumors than in screening-detected breast cancer. However, the study did not show any major differences between the groups regarding the biological profile, says Kristin Johnson.

Kristin Johnson clarifies that the women who were screened with both 3D-mammography and 2D-mammography thus received two radiological assessments, in contrast to the control group. This may have had some effect on the fewer number of cases of interval cancer in the study group.

Several European studies have shown that 3D-mammography detects more cases of breast cancer, although the scientific basis for using 3D-mammography in screening is considered weak due to lack of information on effects on interval cancer rates. Therefore, today's overall European guidelines are still vague. In addition, the guidelines for screening programs differ between countries within as well as outside Europe.

The researchers believe that their results, which so far are the only ones published that show a reduced interval cancer rate, further support that 3D-mammography can supplement or replace mammography in screening. In the long run, they can also help strengthen the European recommendations.

"Screening with 3D-mammography shows potential in reducing interval cancers. However, we need to see more studies pointing in the same direction", concludes Kristin Johnson.

###

Digital twin can protect physical systems and train new users

CHINESE ASSOCIATION OF AUTOMATION

Research News

 

It is more complicated than copy and paste, but digital twins could be way of future manufacturing according to researchers from the University of Kentucky. They developed a virtual environment based on human-robot interactions that can mirror the physical set up of a welder and their project. Called a digital twin, the prototype has implications for evolving manufacturing systems and training novice welders. They published their work in the IEEE/CAA Journal of Automatica Sinica (Volume 8, Issue 2, February 2021).

"This human-robot interaction working style helps to enhance the human users' operational productivity and comfort; while data-driven welder behavior analysis benefits further novice welder training," said paper author YuMing Zhang, James R. Boyd Professor in electrical engineering at the University of Kentucky.

The researchers had a human demonstrate welder operations using a manual welding torch and a motion tracker. Their movements are transmitted to a machine that is actually welding. Sensors in the physical welding environment feedback data to the human. The physical environment, and incoming data, is accessible via an augmented virtual reality in which the human can make adjustments accordingly.

"In current developed digital twins, humans are the observers of the physical systems --information flow is one way," Zhang said. "For processes where intelligence from humans is needed, like precise welding, human-robot interaction needs to be integrated with the digital twins such that the humans' operative ability can be enhanced and the roles they play transmit from observers to dominators."

The researchers also tracked the behavior of six welders with different experience levels in the digital twin system. All welders were able to complete the same welding task, to varying levels of satisfaction. Analysis revealed the distinct patterns in the skilled and unskilled welders' operating behaviors and, ultimately, their work.

"The successful pattern recognition in skilled welder operations should help accelerate novice welder training," Zhang said.

The digital twin environment could, for example, provide a safe space for novice welders to practice techniques without the risk of dangerous or costly damages, as the system could be trained to recognize potentially harmful patterns and shut down.

"In future work, we plan to investigate efficient novice welder training based on this developed human-robot interactive welding with the recognized patterns from skilled welders and also upgrade the system to support multi-robot collaboration such that some more complex welding operations can be completed by this system," Zhang said. "As such, the system applicability can be increased greatly."

Reference

Q. Y. Wang, W. H. Jiao, P. Wang, and Y. M. Zhang, "Digital twin for human-robot interactive welding and welder behavior analysis," IEEE/CAA J. Autom. Sinica, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 334-343, Feb. 2021.

http://www.ieee-jas.net/en/article/doi/10.1109/JAS.2020.1003518

IEEE/CAA Journal of Automatica Sinica aims to publish high-quality, high-interest, far-reaching research achievements globally, and provide an international forum for the presentation of original ideas and recent results related to all aspects of automation.

The first Impact Factor of IEEE/CAA Journal of Automatica Sinica is 5.129, ranking among Top 17% (11/63, SCI Q1) in the category of Automation & Control Systems, according to the latest Journal Citation Reports released by Clarivate Analytics in 2020. In addition, its latest CiteScore is 8.3, and has entered Q1 in all three categories it belongs to (Information System, Control and Systems Engineering, Artificial Intelligence) since 2018.

Why publish with us: Fast and high quality peer review; Simple and effective online submission system; Widest possible global dissemination of your research; Indexed in SCIE, EI, IEEE, Scopus, Inspec. JAS papers can be found at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/mostRecentIssue.jsp?punumber=6570654 or http://www.ieee-jas.net

 ADOPTION IS CHEAPER

Estimating costs of uterine transplantation

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG

Research News

 

IMAGE: FROM LEFT: THOMAS DAVIDSON AND LARS SANDMAN, LINKOPING UNIVERSITY, AND MATS BRANNSTROM, UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG view more 

CREDIT: PHOTO: EMMA BUSK WINQUIST, CHARLOTTE PERHAMMAR AND CECILIA HEDSTRÖM

Sweden's acclaimed research on uterine transplants has taken a new step forward: into the field of health economics. Now, for the first time, there is a scientifically based estimate of how much implementing the treatment costs.

The current research is based on the nine uterine transplants from living donors carried out in 2013, under the leadership of Mats Brännström, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, and Chief Physician at Sahlgrenska University Hospital.

The transplants were performed within the scope of the world's first systematic, scientifically based study in the field. After the first birth in Gothenburg in 2014, there were a further seven births before a woman outside Sweden had a baby after a uterine transplant.

Now that the survey of costs is complete, the results have been reported with certain reservations. First, the number of cases studied is restricted to nine; second, the treatment has taken place as part of a research project, subject to the requirements this has entailed. Nonetheless, the study represents an initial indication of costs.

The researchers arrived at a total average sum per transplant, now reported in the journal Human Reproduction, of EUR 74,564 in current monetary value. This figure comprises costs relating to the recipient and donor alike.

The total includes, first, screening examinations and treatments, such as in vitro fertilization (IVF), in the year preceding the transplant; second, the actual operations on the donor and recipient; and third, costs in the two months after the transplant, including sick leave.

Sick leave (25.7%) was the single largest item in the cost calculation. The other categories were postoperative inpatient care (17.8%), surgery (17.1%), preoperative examinations (15.7%), anesthesia (9.7%), medication (7.8%), postoperative testing (4.0%), and readmission to hospital (2.2%).

The total is described as relatively high, due partly to the extensive scientific requirements. In a future clinical setting, the researchers say, aggregate transplant costs would likely be lower.

Thomas Davidson, Associate Professor in the area of Health Economics and Health Technology Assessment at Linköping University, and first author of the study, puts the matter in perspective.

"In terms of priorities, this study is important because it contributes key data for deciding whether to offer uterine transplants within publicly funded health care. A cost estimate is the starting point for upcoming assessment of whether the intervention is cost-effective."

Cost-effectiveness is usually measured in terms of cost per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) gained -- a yardstick that combines economic aspects with longevity and quality of life.

"In assessing cost-effectiveness, we have to relate both costs and effects, preferably measured in QALYs, to those of alternative treatments," Davidson says.

Lars Sandman -- Professor of Health Care Ethics, head of the Centre for Priority Setting in Health Care at Linköping University, and the study's co-author -- adds his comments.

"There are still essential issues we want to keep investigating. One is how we should regard the effects of a uterine transplant. Should the QALY gain generated include only the benefit to the mother of getting pregnant, giving birth and being the child's parent? Or should the benefit of a child being born and living on for a number of years, adding QALYs, be included as well? It makes a big difference in terms of the cost-effectiveness of the intervention, which is an important factor in the priority-setting context."

Professor Mats Brännström, corresponding author, sums up.

"All the costs of investigation, staff, and hospital care were funded through research grants. The grand total is close to what we'd calculated, and comparable to the current cost of kidney transplantation from a living donor. In all probability, future uterine transplantation will be more cost-effective thanks to the robot-assisted surgical technique we've developed, which means shorter hospital stays and patients returning to work sooner."

###

Title: The costs of human uterus transplantation: a study based on the nine cases of the initial Swedish live donor trial, https://doi.org/10.1093/humrep/deaa301

SEE The Dialectic of Sex - Biopolitics

http://biopolitics.kom.uni.st › The Dialectic of Sex...

PDF

In THE DIALECTIC OF SEX: THE CASE FOR FEMINIST. REVOLUTION, Shulamith Firestone cuts into the prejudice against women (and children)—amplified ...

You've visited this page 2 times. Last visit: 05/12/18

Visionary bone damage study

X-rays confirm promise of new luminescent markers

FLINDERS UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

IMAGE: PROFESSOR YOUHONG TANG, FLINDERS UNIVERSITY view more 

CREDIT: FLINDERS UNIVERSITY

A novel way to pinpoint and illuminate bone damage promises to make X-rays more efficient at diagnosing bone and other injuries, Flinders University researchers say.

The new technique, looking at potential biomedical applications of an ancient inorganic salt-based aggregation induced emission (AIE) radio-luminescence material, could open new frontiers in medicine including X-ray dosimetry, bioimaging and advanced applications such as optogenetics, says Professor Youhong Tang, from Flinders University's College of Science and Engineering.

The review article, published by Professor Tang, postdoctoral student Dr Javad Tavokoli, colleagues in Hong Kong and Australian technology company Micro-X and, examined the potential of the AIEgen luminogens (AIEgens) in deep tissue imaging. The study used X-ray testing provided by Adelaide-based Micro-X.

"We were able to use Micro-X advanced X-ray machines at the Tonsley Innovation District to show the benefits of this AIEgen system which can be excited by X-ray (as the radioluminescence emitter) and UV light (as the photoluminescence emitter) compared to current AIEgens which mostly only act as the photoluminescence emitter," he says.

"The study highlighted the disadvantages of autofluorescence, poor signal-to-noise radio, and poor tissue penetration depth of traditional photoluminescence emitters which could be elegantly solved by these radioluminescence luminogens," says Professor of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Dr Tang.

"Not only do they pinpoint bone and soft tissue damage for better diagnosis and treatment but we suggest further studies could see these AIE-based materials with multifunctionalities used for improved drug delivery, biosensors, bioimaging, and tissue engineering."

Lead author on the journal article in Aggregate, Dr Tavokoli, how based at the Centre for Health Technologies at University of Technology Sydney, says the next generation of fluorescent gels could also capitalise on additional light-emitting properties making them attractive for different applications.

The latest work not only explores a series of inorganic AIE systems but also "fundamentally helps to understand both the unconventional organic and inorganic clusteroluminescence phenomena, Professor Tang concludes.

###

The paper, Revisiting an ancient inorganic aggregation?induced emission system: An enlightenment to clusteroluminescence (2021) by Zheng Zhao, Zaiyu Wang, Javad Tavakoli, Guogang Shan, Jianyu Zhang, Chen Peng, Yu Xiong, Xuepeng Zhang, Tsz Shing Cheung, Youhong Tang, Bolong Huang and Zhaoxun Yu published in Aggregate DOI: 10.1002/agt2.36

 

Scientists develop eco-friendly pollen sponge to tackle water contaminants

NANYANG TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

Research News 

VIDEO: SCIENTISTS LED BY NTU SINGAPORE HAVE DEVELOPED AN ECO-FRIENDLY POLLEN SPONGE TO TACKLE WATER CONTAMINANTS, MAKING IT A PROMISING ALTERNATIVE TO TACKLE MARINE OIL SPILLS. view more 

CREDIT: NTU SINGAPORE

A team of scientists led by Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) has created a reusable, biodegradable sponge that can readily soak up oil and other organic solvents from contaminated water sources, making it a promising alternative for tackling marine oil spills.

Made of sunflower pollen, the sponge is hydrophobic - it repels water - thanks to a coat of natural fatty acid on the sponge. In lab experiments, the scientists showed the sponge's ability to absorb oil contaminants of various densities, such as gasoline and motor oil, at a rate comparable to that of commercial oil absorbents.

Oil spills are difficult to clean up, and result in severe long-lasting damage to the marine ecosystem. Conventional clean-up methods, including using chemical dispersants to break oil down into very small droplets, or absorbing it with expensive, unrecyclable materials, may worsen the damage. 

So far, the researchers have engineered sponges that measure 5 cm in diameter. The research team, made up of scientists from NTU Singapore and Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea, believes that these sponges, when scaled up, could be an eco-friendly alternative to tackle marine oil spills.

Professor Cho Nam-Joon from the NTU School of Materials Science and Engineering, who led the study, said: "By finetuning the material properties of pollen, our team successfully developed a sponge that can selectively target oil in contaminated water sources and absorb it. Using a material that is found abundantly in nature also makes the sponge affordable, biodegradable, and eco-friendly."

This study builds on NTU's body of work on finding new uses for pollen, known as the diamond of the plant kingdom for its hard exterior, by transforming its tough shell into microgel particles. This soft, gel-like material is then used as a building block for a new category of environmentally sustainable materials. 

Last year, Prof Cho, together with NTU President Professor Subra Suresh, led a research team to create a paper-like material from pollen as a greener alternative to paper created from trees. This 'pollen paper' also bends and curls in response to changing levels of environmental humidity, a trait that could be useful for soft robots, sensors, and artificial muscles. 

Prof Cho, who also holds the Materials Research Society of Singapore Chair in Materials Science and Engineering, added: "Pollen that is not used for plant pollination is often considered biological waste. Through our work, we try to find new uses for this 'waste' and turn it into a natural resource that is renewable, affordable, and biodegradable. Pollen is also biocompatible. It does not cause an immunological, allergic or toxic reaction when exposed to body tissues, making it potentially suitable for applications such as wound dressing, prosthetics, and implantable electronics."

The findings were published in the scientific journal Advanced Functional Materials in March.

CAPTION

To make the sponge, the research team first transformed tough pollen grains into a soft gel-like material, before freeze-drying the material. These processes resulted in the formation of pollen sponges with 3D porous architectures.

CREDIT

NTU Singapore

Building a sponge from pollen

To form the sponge, the NTU team first transformed the ultra-tough pollen grains from sunflowers into a pliable, gel-like material through a chemical process akin to conventional soap-making. 

This process includes removing the sticky oil-based pollen cement that coats the grain's surface, before incubating the pollen in alkaline conditions for three days. The resulting gel-like material was then freeze-dried.

These processes resulted in the formation of pollen sponges with 3D porous architectures. The sponges were briefly heated to 200°C - a step that makes their form and structure stable after repeatedly absorbing and releasing liquids. Heating also led to a two-fold improvement in the sponge's resistance to deformation, the scientists found.

To make sure the sponge selectively targets oil and does not absorb water, the scientists coated it with a layer of stearic acid, a type of fatty acid found commonly in animal and vegetable fat. This renders the sponge hydrophobic while maintaining its structural integrity.

The scientists performed oil-absorption tests on the pollen sponge with oils and organic solvents of varying densities, such as gasoline, pump oil, and n-hexane (a chemical found in crude oil). 

They found that the sponge had an absorption capacity in the range of 9.7 to over 29.3 g/g . This is comparable to commercial polypropylene absorbents, which are petroleum derivatives and have an absorption capacity range of 8.1 to 24.6 g/g.

They also tested the sponge for its durability and reusability by repeatedly soaking it in silicone oil, then squeezing the oil out. They found that this process could go on for at least 10 cycles. 

In a final proof-of-concept experiment, the team tested the ability of a sponge 1.5cm in diameter and 5mm in height to absorb motor oil from a contaminated water sample. The sponge readily absorbed the motor oil in less than 2 minutes. 

"Collectively, these results demonstrate that the pollen sponge can selectively absorb and release oil contaminants and has similar performance levels to commercial oil absorbents while demonstrating compelling properties such as low cost, biocompatibility, and sustainable production," said Prof Cho, the corresponding author of this study. 

Going forward, the researchers plan to scale up the size of pollen sponges to meet industry needs. They are also looking to collaborate with non-governmental organisations and international partners to conduct pilot tests with pollen sponges in real-life environments. 

"We hope our innovative pollen materials can one day replace widely-used plastics and help to curb the global issue of plastic pollution," said Prof Cho.

Note to Editors:

Paper 'Colloid-Mediated Fabrication of a 3D Pollen Sponge for Oil Remediation Applications' published in Advanced Functional Materials. 2021, 2101091.

https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202101091

CAPTION

A research team from NTU Singapore and Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea has engineered a sunflower pollen sponge that can soak up oil in contaminated water sources. (L-R) NTU PhD student Mohammed Shahrudin Ibrahim, NTU Masters student Deng Jingyu, NTU research fellow Dr Zhao Ze, and NTU Prof Cho Nam-Joon.

CREDIT

NTU Singapore

About Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

A research-intensive public university, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) has 33,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students in the Engineering, Business, Science, Humanities, Arts, & Social Sciences, and Graduate colleges. It also has a medical school, the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, established jointly with Imperial College London.

NTU is also home to world-class autonomous institutes - the National Institute of Education, S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Earth Observatory of Singapore, and Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering - and various leading research centres such as the Nanyang Environment & Water Research Institute (NEWRI) and Energy Research Institute @ NTU (ERI@N).

Ranked amongst the world's top universities by QS, NTU has also been named the world's top young university for the past seven years. The University's main campus is frequently listed among the Top 15 most beautiful university campuses in the world and has 57 Green Mark-certified (equivalent to LEED-certified) buildings, of which 95% are certified Green Mark Platinum. Apart from its main campus, NTU also has a campus in Novena, Singapore's healthcare district.

Under the NTU Smart Campus vision, the University harnesses the power of digital technology and tech-enabled solutions to support better learning and living experiences, the discovery of new knowledge, and the sustainability of resources.

For more information, visit http://www.ntu.edu.sg.