Study: Everyday household noise stresses dogs out

By HealthDay News

DOGS GET STRESSED FROM EVERYTHING

If your pooch often seems anxious, it could be due to common household noises such as from a vacuum or microwave oven, researchers say.

It's well known that a sudden loud racket such as fireworks or thunderstorms can spark anxiety in dogs, but this new study shows that even day-to-day sounds may upset them, and that owners may not realize it.

"We feed them, house them, love them and we have a caretaker obligation to respond better to their anxiety," said lead author Emma Grigg, a research associate and lecturer at the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California, Davis.

Her team surveyed 386 dog owners about their dogs' responses to household sounds and also assessed dog behaviors and human reactions from 62 online videos.

High-frequency, intermittent household noises such as the battery warning of a smoke detector are more likely to cause a dog anxiety, rather than low-frequency, continuous noise, the researchers concluded.

They also found that many owners underestimate their dogs' frightened reactions to household noises, and often respond with amusement rather than concern, according to findings published this month in the journal Frontiers in Veterinary Science.

"We know that there are a lot of dogs that have noise sensitivities, but we underestimate their fearfulness to noise we consider normal because many dog owners can't read body language," Grigg said in a university news release

"Dogs use body language much more than vocalizing and we need to be aware of that," she added.

Common signs of anxiety in dogs include cringing, trembling or retreating. There are also more subtle clues such as panting, licking their lips, turning their head away, stiffening their body, turning their ears back and lowering their head below their shoulders.

"We hope this study gets people to think about the sources of sound that might be causing their dog stress, so they can take steps to minimize their dog's exposure to it," Grigg said.


More information

The American Kennel Club offers advice on dog anxiety.

Copyright © 2021 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Fragment of long-lost 12th-century poem found in book binding


Researcher Tamara Atkin was examining the bindings from a book published in 1528 when she found a fragment of "Siege d'Orange," a 12th century poem that had been believed completely lost by scholars. Photo courtesy of Queen Mary University of London

Nov. 18 (UPI) -- A researcher uncovered a fragment from a long-lost 12th-century French poem in the binding of a book at a University of Oxford library in Britain.

Tamara Atkin, from Queen Mary University of London, was researching the reuse of books in the 16th century when she found a fragment from the long-lost poem, Siege d'Orange, in the binding of a book published in 1528 and currently housed at Oxford's Bodleian Library.

The poem tells the story of the siege of Orange, a city in the Rhone Valley, and is part of a cycle of epic narrative poems about the legendary hero Guillaume d'Orange.

Atkin said scholars had long known about the poem's existence, but it was believed to be lost until the discovery of the fragment, which she said appears to come from a copy printed in England in the late 13th century.

"The discovery of the fragment we now have fills an important gap in the poetic biography of the epic hero. This is a most exciting addition to the corpus of medieval French epic poetry," Philip Bennett, an expert on d'Orange from the University of Edinburgh, told The Guardian.

Atkin said the same book also included a fragment from Beroul's Roman de Tristan, an early telling of the medieval romance story of Tristan and Iseult.

She said the fragment was published in the 12th century, and contains significant differences from the only other known copy of the poem, an incomplete 13th-century manuscript housed at the Bibliotheque Nationale de France.

"It's fantastically exciting to discover something that's been lost all this time, but I do think it is also worth simultaneously holding the thought that actually, the only reason these fragments have survived is because at some point, someone thought the manuscripts in which they appeared were not valuable as anything other than waste," Atkin said.

"There's a sort of lovely tension in that, I think."

TOYOTA ARMY
Yemen Huthis say nearly 15,000 rebels killed since mid-June


Yemeni army reinforcements arrive to join fighters loyal to Yemen's Saudi-backed government, on the southern front of Marib on November 16, 2021 (AFP/-)

Thu, November 18, 2021, 9:33 AM·2 min read

Nearly 15,000 Yemeni Huthi fighters have been killed near the strategic city of Marib since June, sources close to the rebels said Thursday, in a rare admission of their casualties during the seven-year war.

"The air strikes launched by the Saudi-led military coalition and the battles have killed nearly 14,700 Huthis since mid-June near Marib," an official at the rebel-run defence ministry told AFP.

Another official from the same office confirmed the toll.


On the pro-government side more than 1,200 fighters were killed in the same five-month period while defending areas near Marib, two government military officials told AFP.

Marib city is the internationally-recognised government's last major stronghold in Yemen's oil-rich north.

The Iran-backed Huthis began a major push to seize the city last year.

The battle was halted multiple times due to negotiations, but the rebels renewed their attacks in February, there was a major assault in June, and an intensified push since September.

A Saudi-led coalition which intervened in 2015 to support the government has, since October 11, reported almost daily air strikes around Marib with a death toll, by their count, of around 3,800 rebels.

On Thursday the coalition said in a statement that nearly 27,000 rebels have been killed since last year in the battle for Marib.

One of the officials on the government side said that "1,250 soldiers have been killed since June near Marib," a toll confirmed by a second government military official.

AFP cannot independently verify either side's figures.

The war has led to what the United Nations calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Tens of thousands of people have died and millions have been displaced.

The loss of Marib would be a major blow for the government and would strengthen the rebels' position in future peace negotiations, according to experts.

This week a convoy of Yemeni army reinforcements arrived on the southern front of Marib to join loyalists fighters.

The troops in red berets rode in pickup trucks bearing the Yemeni flag.

As fighting continues on that front the Huthis on Friday took control of a large area south of Hodeida, a Red Sea port where the warring sides agreed on a ceasefire in 2018, after loyalist forces withdrew.

The United Nations Mission to support the Hodeida Agreement (UNMHA) said on Monday that the latest developments "represent a major shift of the front lines", a possible reference to the Marib front.

The Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen in early 2015 to shore up the government after the Huthis seized the capital Sanaa months before.

faw-mah/it/dv

Bipartisan senators move to block Saudi arms deal over Yemen involvement



Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., led a group of bipartisan senators on Thursday with introducing a joint resolution to stop a Biden administration arms deal with Saudi Arabia. Pool file photo by Greg Nash/UPI | License Photo

Nov. 18 (UPI) -- A group of bipartisan senators introduced a bill Thursday to block the Biden administration from completing an arms sale to Saudi Arabia over its involvement in the Yemen civil war.

The $650 million arms deal with the Kingdom approved by the State Department earlier this month is the first major military sale by the Biden administration, and it has come under criticism from some politicians and activists as they object to the role the U.S. Middle Eastern ally is playing in the Yemen conflict, including its recently instated fuel blockade of the war-torn country that has prevented food and water from getting in.

The joint resolution unveiled Thursday voices disapproval of the sale by Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., Bernie Sanders, D-Vt., and Mike Lee, R-Utah.

"A message needs to be sent to Saudi Arabia that we don't approve of their war in Yemen," Paul said in a statement. "By participating in this sale, we would not only be rewarding reprehensible behavior, but also exacerbating a humanitarian crisis in Yemen. I order Congress and the Biden administration to consider the possible consequences of this sale that could accelerate an arms race in the Middle East and jeopardize the security of our military technologies."

Yemen, which borders the Gulf of Aden to its south and Saudi Arabia to its north, has been submerged in conflict since March 2015 when the internationally recognized and Saudi-backed government launched an attack against Houthi rebels.

The United Nations has described the situation as the world's largest humanitarian crisis with some 21 million people in need of humanitarian assistance including more than 11 million children.

In February, President Joe Biden announced the end of U.S. support for offensive military operations in Yemen. The arms deal was approved Nov. 4 by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which has described the weapons involved as defensive in nature.

"This proposed sale will support U.S. foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to improve the security of a friendly country that continues to be an important force for political and economic progress in the Middle East," it said in a statement.

The deal includes 280 AIM-120C-7/C-8 advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles, which are predominantly used for defensive iron strikes, and 596 LAU-128 missile rail launchers as well as containers, support equipment and other forms of spare parts and technical support.

Last week, Rep. Ilhan Omar introduced a similar bill in the House to block the arms sale, which she said was "simply unconscionable" as the Kingdom continues "to slaughter innocent people and starve millions in Yemen.

"We should never be selling human rights abusers weapons, but we certainly should not be doing so in the midst of a humanitarian crisis they are responsible for," she said in a statement.

3,000 flip-flops placed in National Mall in protest of U.S. funding Philippine military

Activists placed 3,000 flip-flops on the National Mall Thursday in a call for Congress to pass the Philippine Human Rights Act, which would cut support for Philippine military and police over human rights violations.

 Photo by Tasos Katopodis/UPI | License Photo


Nov. 18 (UPI) -- Activists on Thursday placed flip-flops on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in protest of extrajudicial killings carried out by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.


Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa., a sponsor of the bill wrote on Twitter that the "human rights tragedy must end." Photo by Tasos Katopodis/UPI | License Photo

As part of the protest organized by the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines, demonstrators placed 3,000 pairs of flip-flops, each representing 10 of the 300,000 killings carried out under Duterte's leadership as they urged U.S. lawmakers to stop providing military aid to the nation.

The protest sought to encourage Congress to pass the Philippine Human Rights Act, which would cut support for Philippine military and police until alleged human rights violations have been examined.

It calls for suspension of U.S. security assistance and vetoing of loans to the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippines National Police and also requires the U.S. State Department and U.S. Department of Defense to report to Congress on the misuse of the aid, "including but not limited to extrajudicial killings, intimidation, illegal sales, and misappropriation."

Democratic Oregon Reps. Suzanne Bonamici and Earl Blumenauer also released a joint statement calling for the bill's passage. Photo by Tasos Katopodis/UPI | License Photo

The bill cites the threat posed by Duterte and the military to trade unionists, journalists, small farmers, LGBTQ activists and critics of the government.

One of the bill's sponsors, Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa., reacted to the demonstration on Twitter.

"This human rights tragedy must end. It's time to pass my bill, the Philippine Human Rights Act," she wrote.

Democratic Oregon Reps. Suzanne Bonamici and Earl Blumenauer also released a joint statement calling for the bill's passage.

"During President Duterte's regime, we have seen widespread and well-documented extrajudicial murders in a so-called 'War on Drugs,' and Philippine security forces are suspected in the murders of pro-democracy advocates, Indigenous people and other voices of dissent," they wrote. "It is unconscionable that U.S. military aid continues to flow to the Philippine government."

The Communication Workers of America and the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines organized the protest. Photo by Tasos Katopodis/UPI | License Photo

The Silent Build-Up to a Super-Eruption That Could Catastrophically Affect Global Climate

By UNIVERSITY OF GENEVA NOVEMBER 17, 2021

Geologists from the UNIGE and Peking University have developed a technique that makes it possible to estimate the maximum size of a future super-eruption of Toba volcano in Sumatra.

It is estimated that about 5-10 volcanoes worldwide are capable of producing a super-eruption that could catastrophically affect global climate. One of these volcanoes hides below the waters of Lake Toba in Sumatra and has caused two super-eruptions in the last one million year. But when will the next one be? Will there be any warning signs? To answer these questions, an international team of geologists led from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, and Peking University, China, developed an analysis of the levels of uranium and lead in zircons – a mineral typically found in explosive volcanic eruptions – to determine how long it took the volcano to prepare for its super-eruptions. Unfortunately, these results, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), refute the notion that unusual geological signs would herald an imminent super-eruption. Instead, the magma silently accumulated in the magma reservoir until these massive explosions occur.

The Toba volcano in Sumatra caused two of the largest eruptions known on the Earth: the first 840,000 years ago, the second 75,000 years ago, each measuring about 2’800 km3, enough to blanket the whole of Switzerland with 7 cm thick of ash, and representing 70,000 times the amount of magma erupted to this moment by the ongoing La Palma eruption. Two other smaller eruptions took place, one 1.4 million years ago and the other 500,000 years ago.

Photo of Lake Toba in Sumatra and its island created by the accumulation of magma in the volcano’s magma reservoir. Credit: © UNIGE

Geologists from UNIGE and Peking University are interested in the Toba volcano because there is no historical record of human response to a super-eruption of the size that it produced in the past. Such an event would affect the global climate and pose numerous problems, particularly in terms of food supply, not to mention the migration of populations. “Toba volcano forms a caldera, meaning that previous eruptions have created a large depression that is occupied today by meteoric water,” explains Luca Caricchi, professor at the Department of Earth Sciences at the UNIGE Faculty of Science and co-author of the study. At the center of the lake is an island that raised from the water because of the push of the magma injected in the subvolcanic reservoir. “We can see that this island is gradually increasing in height, indicating that the volcano is active and that magma is accumulating underneath,” says Ping-Ping Liu, a professor at the Faculty of Earth and Space Sciences of Peking University and leading author of the article. But are we close to the next super-eruption?

Measuring uranium and lead in zircon

Zircon is a mineral that is found in the products of explosive volcanic eruptions. “One of its characteristics is that it takes uranium within its structure,” explains Ping-Ping Liu. Over time, the uranium decays into lead. “So by measuring the amount of uranium and lead in zircon with a mass spectrometer, we can determine its age,” says the geologist. The scientists determined the age of a large number of zircons extracted from the products of different eruptions: the youngest zircon provides information on the date of the eruption and the older zircons reveal the history of magma accumulation preceding the super-eruptions. 

“The first super-eruption occurred around 840,000 years ago after 1.4 million years of magma input, whereas magma fed the second super-eruption at 75,000 years accumulated only in 600,000 years,” notes Luca Caricchi. Why was the time of magma accumulation halved even if the two super-eruptions were of the same size? “This is linked to the progressive increase of the temperature of the continental crust in which Toba’s magma reservoir is assembled,” explains Ping-Ping Liu. The input of magma has gradually heated the surrounding continental crust, which makes the magma cool slower. “This is a ‘vicious circle’ of eruptions: the more the magma heats the crust, the slower the magma cools and the faster the rate of magma accumulation becomes,” she says. The result is that super-eruptions can become more frequent in time.

Estimating the rate of magma accumulation to anticipate the size of the next super-eruption

This technique, based on zircon geochronology, can also be used to estimate the rate of magma input in a magma reservoir. “Today, we estimate that about 320 km3 of magma could be ready to erupt within the reservoir of Toba volcano,” says Luca Caricchi. If such an eruption would occur now, this would be a very catastrophic event that strongly affect not only the highly populated island of Sumatra but also the global environment. Geologists have estimated that currently about 4 km³ of eruptible magma is accumulating within Toba’s magma reservoir every thousand years and that this rate was rather stable throughout its eruptive history. “The next super-eruption of the size of the last two would therefore take place in about 600,000 years,” he continues. This does not rule out that smaller eruptions could occur in the meantime.

This innovative method can be applied to any other volcano globally and could serve to identify which volcano is closest to a super-eruption. “This is a great advance, because with few super-eruptions in the last 2 million years, it is not possible for us to obtain statistically significant values for the frequency of these catastrophic events at a global scale,” explains Ping-Ping Liu. “Our study also shows that no extreme events occur before a super-eruption. This suggests that signs of an impending super-eruption such as a significant increase in earthquakes or rapid ground uplift, might not be as obvious as pictured in disaster movies by the film industry. At Toba volcano, everything is happening silently underground, and the analysis of the zircons now gives us an idea of what is to come,” concludes Luca Caricchi.

Reference: “Growth and thermal maturation of the Toba magma reservoir” by Ping-Ping Liu, Luca Caricchi, Sun-Lin Chung, Xian-Hua Li, Qiu-Li Li, Mei-Fu Zhou, Yu-Ming Lai, Azman A. Ghani, Theodora Sihotang, Tom E. Sheldrake, and Guy Simpson, 1 November 2021, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2101695118

ANOTHER VERSION OF  CARBON CAPTURE

AUSTRALIA

‘A farce’: experts dismiss government claims a controversial and unproven technology will cut emissions by 15%

Burning vegetation and injecting emissions underground ‘ecologically risky’ and ‘should be avoided’

Researchers have dismissed the Morrison government’s use of bioenergy with carbon capture and storage technology in its net zero emissions 2050 modelling. 

Photograph: The AGE/Fairfax Media

Supported by


Graham Readfearn
@readfearn
Thu 18 Nov 2021 16.30 GMT

Experts have questioned how a controversial energy technology that doesn’t currently exist in Australia could be earmarked as a major source of cuts to greenhouse gas emissions in the Morrison government’s plan to reach net zero by 2050.

According to the government’s modelling report of its “technology not taxes” plan, a technique known as BECCS – bioenergy with carbon capture and storage – would be removing about 15% from the nation’s gross greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

But the approach, which involves burning vegetation or waste for power and then capturing the carbon dioxide and injecting it underground, is not one of the priority technologies the government has picked to support.

The government’s modelling report has already come under fire from experts for questionable assumptions and an approach which leaves the gas industry to grow while relying on international offsets.

Experts said it was not clear how the government had arrived at the BECCS figure, with some saying the technique itself was unproven, problematic and ecologically risky.

Does Angus Taylor’s projection of a 35% 2030 emissions cut really ‘support the Paris agreement’?

BECCS theoretically requires three key elements – the availability of biomass such as trees, vegetation or waste and land and water to grow it; a power plant to burn the biomass and capture the CO2; and then a geological formation underground close by where the CO2 could be injected.

There was no mention of BECCS in the government’s latest progress report on its low emissions technology plans, published earlier this month.

According to the government’s modelling report, BECCS removes 38m tonnes of CO2 by 2050 under its technology plan, compared to 253Mt of gross emissions from sectors including electricity, transport and agriculture.

Other scenarios modelled by the government include even higher levels of BECCS.

BECCS is included in many global efforts to map out routes for economies to reach net zero, but remains controversial because of its potential to compete for land and resources currently used to produce food.

Dr Kate Dooley, a researcher at the University of Melbourne and an expert on how land could be used to mitigate climate change, said based on the government’s numbers, about 14m hectares – or about 6% of all Australia’s agricultural land – would be needed to generate emissions reductions at that level.

She said: “BECCS is an unproven technology with significant land area requirements which at a global scale have been shown to pose tradeoffs and serious risks for resource use, biodiversity, and food security.”

Dooley said while Australia’s size meant there were good opportunities to cut emissions on land, much of this potential came in reducing clearing.

She added: “Risky unproven technologies such as BECCS should be avoided in favour of options with greater co-benefits.”


Morrison government’s carbon capture plan at crossroads as Coalition MPs raise opposition

Energy and climate change program director at the Grattan Institute, Tony Wood, said including BECCS in the government’s planning at all “would be problematic because the report says it’s based on an assumption the technology is not economically viable in absence of incentives.

“But there’s nothing in the report that describes what incentives would trigger such an investment. It’s imposed on the modelling without any justification, but it offsets a substantial amount of emissions.

“These are extraordinary numbers to have in a report without any justification of how this would work, how it would happen and what the costs would be.”

Tim Baxter, a senior researcher at the Climate Council, said the inclusion of BECCS in the government’s modelling was a “farce”.

“The pretence that BECCS will get off the ground at this scale in Australia without careful, intelligent planning is absurd,” he said.

Chief executive of Climate Analytics, Bill Hare, said BECCS will “likely work” but wasn’t yet proven at scale anywhere in the world.

There has been little research carried out into the potential for BECCS in Australia. One study, published in 2018, did suggest a potential 25Mt of CO2 could be stored a year by 2050 through BECCS.

Australia could become a net negative emissions economy. The technology already exists
Frank Jotzo

But the research, from the University of Melbourne, was based on sourcing waste biomass “to avoid the ecological uncertainties and social challenges of dedicated energy crops.”

A co-author of that study, Prof Peter Cook, who also consults to industry and government on carbon capture and storage (CCS), said he was not aware of any BECCS projects in Australia and only a small number overseas where government incentives were being provided.

He said a challenge of combining bioenergy with CCS – which is among the government’s priority technologies – is “you can’t do it everywhere, you need the right rocks or you have to pipe [the CO2] a long way.”

He said BECCS was feasible and was among several technologies that would be needed in the future to pull CO2 out of the atmosphere.

But he added: “But it’s much better if we stop putting CO2 in the atmosphere in the first place.”


Andrew Forrest criticises use of carbon capture and storage saying it fails ‘19 out of 20 times’

On Thursday, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency released a roadmap to show the growth potential for the bioenergy industry in Australia.

There was no mention of combining bioenergy with CCS. But the roadmap said growing the bioenergy industry could cut emissions, divert waste from landfill, and improve the nation’s fuel security.

Guardian Australia asked emissions reduction minister Angus Taylor how the emissions reductions from BECCS were calculated for the report, why it wasn’t a priority technology, and where the government thought the biomass would be sourced from.

A spokesperson for the minister said in a statement: “Consistent with other long term emissions modelling exercises, including work by the [International Energy Agency] and US, the [Global Trade and Environmental Model] includes BECCS.

“Analysis by McKinsey does not include BECCS and achieves a similar net emissions outcome to the GTEM model. This illustrates that there are a range of technologies that will contribute to Australia achieving net zero emissions by 2050.”

Psychologists suggest more humility is needed in the social, behavioral and life sciences

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Rink Hoekstra and Simine Vazire, psychologists with the University of Groningen and the University of California, Davis, respectively, have published a Perspective piece in the journal Nature Human Behavior calling for more humility in the social, behavioral and life sciences. In their paper they outline a methodology for imbuing intellectual humility into the paper writing and publishing process.

As Hoekstra and Vazire note, there has been a crisis of sorts in the social, behavioral and life sciences over the past few years, involving multiple reports of the inability to replicate results in academic papers. The authors contend that this is due to a lack of intellectual humility and suggest that there is too much bragging and not enough acknowledgment of the limitations inherent in such work. They suggest a more humble approach is needed if the factors that led to the crisis are to be changed, and they have created guidelines aimed at changing the publishing process. They believe this will restore faith in the work being done.

The suggested changes include making titles and extracts more honest in their descriptions of the work and the achievements. Similar changes need to be made in introductions; researchers need to stop exaggerating the impact of their work and certain elements of the work itself. Methods sections need to remain true to their intended purpose—outlining the work in a way that allows others to replicate what was done. Unflattering details should not be omitted, nor should explanations of why decisions were made. They also suggest that researchers alter their focus in the results section; instead of including only the positive aspects of the research, they suggest giving readers some insight into some of the challenges faced or examples of things that did not work out as planned. And then finally, in the discussion section, they suggest researchers avoid trying to give ironclad results when they are not warranted. In many social science experiments, they note, results may suggest a finding rather than actually showing it exists.

The team concludes by noting that changing perceptions of researchers in the softer sciences will not be easy but failing to do so could prove disastrous for everyone in the field if changes are not made.

A global effort to understand why some people are resistant to SARS-CoV-2 infections

More information: Rink Hoekstra et al, Aspiring to greater intellectual humility in science, Nature Human Behaviour (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41562-021-01203-8

Journal information: Nature Human Behaviour 

© 2021 Science X Network

FAKED SCIENCE
McMaster University puts ecology professor on leave after investigation into a 'series of concerns'
Dan Taekema 

© Supplied by McMaster University Jonathan Pruitt, a McMaster University professor and Canada 150 Research Chair has been placed on paid leave following an investigation by the university.

McMaster University in Hamilton has placed a high-profile science professor on paid leave following an investigation into what it describes as a "most serious matter."

Jonathan Pruitt is an evolutionary ecologist who was awarded a coveted Canada 150 Research Chair — a federal program designed to attract the world's top researchers to Canada.

McMaster has described him as an "internationally recognized" academic who studies the "collective traits of different animal societies" — including ants, wasps and spiders — and how those traits affect their survival.

Pruitt joined McMaster in 2018, coming from the University of California, Santa Barbara. However, following a "series of concerns that were raised, both internal and external to the university," he has been placed on administrative leave, according to McMaster spokesperson Wade Hemsworth.

Pruitt did not respond to a request for comment sent through his university email address.

McMaster did not provide any specific details on the concerns that led to Pruitt being placed on leave, but did say they were investigating under the university's policies, including its research integrity policy.

The Hamilton Spectator previously reported some scientific journals and academic colleagues raised issues with some of his data, which led to academic articles being retracted.

Calls for more transparency

One of the academics whose work with Pruitt was later retracted was Nicholas DiRienzo, who described news his former collaborator had been put on leave as a "relief" — mainly for the students working with the professor now.

DiRienzo was an assistant professor at the University of Arizona at the time of their collaboration and is now working as a data scientist in the private sector.

He said he and other academics found issues related to Pruitt's use of data and had a stressful time spending "hundreds of hours exploring data, writing reports, working with editors," in an effort to do what "we could to correct the record on papers we were directly involved in and access to data on."

Now "the field as a whole needs to know what of his science is valid and what isn't," he said.

DiRienzo said he doesn't believe his interaction with Pruitt had a deep impact on his career. However, the same can't be said for graduate students whose body of work is essentially all shared with their supervisor, he said.

"McMaster should have made this decision a year ago when at that point multiple papers had been retracted across multiple journals. All those retractions required us to deeply demonstrate that he manipulated data," DiRienzo wrote in an email to CBC.

DiRienzo called on McMaster to be more transparent about the investigation into Pruitt, adding that the repeated requests he's made for more information have been met with a "generic answer" from the university saying they're not going to release their report publicly.

More information is needed so scientists can better understand what happened, he said, noting some journals have said they're waiting for an outcome of the investigation before retracting papers.

"They're digging deep into his history of work and have access to much more information," said DiRienzo.

Pruitt restricted from teaching, research

Manipulating, changing or omitting data and findings is considered research misconduct under McMaster's policy.

Under the policy, a finding of research misconduct can result in consequences ranging from a letter of concern to sanctions including withdrawing research privileges, suspension or dismissal.

McMaster said its investigation into Pruitt is complete.

"Additional interim measures are in place restricting Pruitt from any engagement in teaching and research, including any access to research funding," according to Hemsworth

.

© Patrick Doyle/Canadian Press Jonathan Pruitt (third from the left) poses with some of the other Canada 150 Research Chairs in Gatineau, Quebec in 2018.

Pruitt's own dissertation at the University of University of Tennessee, Knoxville, now carries a note stating "this paper has been withdrawn."

A spokesperson for the University of Tennessee said Pruitt currently holds a PhD, but did not respond directly to questions about the note on his dissertation or what it means for his work.

"The University of Tennessee is committed to integrity in all of its research endeavours, including student work," read a brief statement emailed to CBC.

"The university is prohibited from disclosing student information, including the presence or absence of a research integrity investigation."
'Progress continues'

Hemsworth said Pruitt will remain on leave until the process is complete, though the university does not know how long that will take.

In the meantime, he added, Pruitt's students from this term are being transition to a new instructor who will be in place this week.

DiRienzo said despite what happened, the field has "done a wonderful job rallying behind" those whose work was impacted.

Pruitt was a "major player" in several areas of research but he was only one academic.

"The lines of research that were valid have been progressing just fine as plenty of other scientists kept plugging along doing science the right way," said DiRienzo.

"If anything this whole experience has shown how [when] even aggressive scientific fraud gets weeded out, the record corrects itself, and progress continues."

Eleven-year-old girl who bathed in hot spring diagnosed with gonorrhea: Case study

The girl developed the symptoms after bathing in a busy hot pool at the edge of Italy's Specchio di Venere (Mirror of Venus)

YOU STILL DO NOT GET STD/STI FROM TOILET SEATS

Author of the article:National Post Staf
Publishing date:Nov 17, 2021

Specchio di Venere Lake (Venus' mirror) was formed in an extinct volcanic crater, fed by rainfall and hot springs. 

PHOTO BY GETTY IMAGES

An 11-year-old Austrian girl has been diagnosed with gonorrhea after returning from a family vacation to Italy where she reportedly bathed in a hot spring.

The girl first developed symptoms after bathing in a heavily frequented hot pool at the edge of crater lake Specchio di Venere (“Mirror of Venus”) on Pantelleria Island, Italy.

According to a case study published September 17, she developed vulvovaginitis — inflammation and irritation of the vagina or vulva, usually soothed with anti-fungal cream.

Vaginal swabs tested positive for Neisseria gonorrhoeae, a sexually-transmitted bacterial infection. Her family members however tested negative.

Researchers learned that the family members had waded into different pools at the lake, with her and her father entering one pool while her mother and sister went into another.

Although the disease can be transferred through sexual contact, the young girl adamantly denied have any contact of the kind, said researchers from New Zealand’s University of Auckland and Austria’s University of Salzburg in the study.

Instead experts believe the warm temperature, acidic nature of the water and presence of organic particles could explain why she was infected with the virus. Historical reports of gonococcal epidemics in children’s hospitals also show the disease traced back to common baths, the study stated.

Her pediatrictian recommended whey baths for two weeks to restore her vaginal flora and settle her symptoms. By week four, her swab came back negative.

Although the story ends well for the girl, “this is not a diagnosis to be missed,” the researchers wrote in the study, published in the Journal of Medical Case Reports . “A presumption that a gonococcal infection is diagnostic of sexual abuse can be dire, with children wrongfully removed from their parents’ care and their caregivers facing false charges of sexual crimes.”

They suggested adding a sign, a shower and antibacterial soap near the hot springs, to educate visitors on the risks of bathing frequently in the shallow pools.