Friday, April 15, 2022

THE LANCET INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Threat of untreatable gonorrhoea could be tackled using an existing meningitis vaccine

Peer-Reviewed Publication

THE LANCET

Peer-reviewed / 2x Observational study / 1x Modelling study / People

Three research papers identify effective ways of improving protection against gonorrhoea infections in the face of rising cases and increasing drug resistance.
An observational study of the effectiveness of 4CMenB in a large-scale vaccination programme in South Australia indicates two doses of the vaccine is 33% effective against gonorrhoea in adolescents and young adults.
An observational study of health records for 16-23-year-olds in New York City and Philadelphia, USA, during 2016-2018 indicates receiving two doses of the meningitis vaccine 4CMenB provides 40% protection against gonorrhoea.

Meningitis vaccines could help improve protection against gonorrhoea amid rising cases globally and increasing bacterial resistance to drugs used to treat the infection, according to findings from three linked papers published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal.

Gonorrhoea is a sexually transmitted infection (STI) which, if untreated, can lead to serious health conditions, including infertility in women, transmission to newborn babies, and increased risk of HIV. More than 80 million new cases of gonorrhoea were recorded worldwide in 2020. [1]

Declining effectiveness of drug treatments for the bacteria responsible – Neisseria gonorrhoeae – and the lack of a licensed vaccine to prevent the infection have raised concerns about the possibility that gonorrhoea may become more resistant to treatment, or even untreatable, in future.

Meningitis vaccines have been recommended by the WHO as part of its roadmap to reduce the global burden of meningitis. This includes offering meningitis vaccines as part of routine childhood immunisation strategies. [2] Since meningitis vaccines have become more widely available, studies have shown they also offer some protection against gonorrhoea, and that even partial protection could reduce cases of the infection considerably. However, questions have remained about the impacts and effectiveness of using meningitis vaccines against gonorrhoea.

In 2016, the WHO set a target to reduce gonorrhoea incidences by 90% by 2030, however an effective vaccine has yet to be developed. The three studies suggest that the 4CMenB vaccine may offer significant protection to young adults, and to men who have sex with men who might be at higher risk of infection.

Meningitis vaccine 4CMenB provides 40% protection against gonorrhoea

An observational study led by Dr Winston Abara, of U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, used health records to identify laboratory-confirmed cases of gonorrhoea and chlamydia – another leading STI – among 16–23-year-olds in New York City, NY and Philadelphia, PA, from 2016–2018. These cases were compared with immunisation records to determine people’s vaccination status with 4CMenB – which is licenced for use against meningitis – at the time of infection.

There were more than 167,000 infections (18,099 gonorrhoea, 124,876 chlamydia, and 24,731 co-infections) among almost 110,000 people. A total of 7,692 people had received the 4CMenB vaccine, with 4,032 (52%) receiving one dose, 3,596 (47%) two doses, and 64 (less than 1%) more than two doses. Full 4CMenB vaccination – receiving two doses – was estimated to provide 40% protection against gonorrhoea. One vaccine dose provided 26% protection.

Dr Winston Abara said: “Our findings suggest that meningitis vaccines that are even only moderately effective at protecting against gonorrhoea could have a major impact on prevention and control of the disease. Clinical trials focused on the use of 4CMenB against gonorrhoea are needed to better understand its protective effects and could also offer important insights towards the development of a vaccine specifically for gonorrhoea.” [3]

The authors acknowledge some limitations. The findings may not be generalisable to wider groups because the data used were from people aged 16–23 years in two large urban settings in the USA. Additionally, use of surveillance data means it is possible some participants’ infection and vaccination status were misclassified, affecting the analysis.

Two-dose course of 4CMenB is 33% effective against gonorrhoea in adolescents and young adults

South Australia’s ongoing 4CMenB vaccination programme is the most extensive globally, initially involving infants, children, adolescents, and young adults with a continuing state-funded program for infants and adolescents. In an observational study led by Professor Helen Marshall, of the Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Adelaide, researchers assessed the effectiveness of 4CMenB against meningitis and gonorrhoea as part of an infant, child and adolescent vaccination programme.

The authors analysed meningitis and gonorrhoea infection data held by the Communicable Disease Control Branch, and 4CMenB vaccination records from the Australian Immunisation Register. To estimate the effectiveness of 4CMenB against gonorrhoea, patients diagnosed with chlamydia acted as controls because of similar sexual behavioural risks reported in patients with either infection.
More than 53,000 adolescents and young adults received at least one dose of 4CMenB during the vaccination programme’s first two years. As well as being highly effective against meningococcal B meningitis and sepsis, in adolescents and young adults a two-dose course of 4CMenB was 33% effective against gonorrhoea

Professor Helen Marshall said: “While recent studies have provided evidence that 4CMenB vaccination is associated with reduced risk of gonorrhoea, the vaccine was only offered to adolescents and young adults for short periods. The unprecedented scale of South Australia’s 4CMenB vaccination programme offers valuable real-world evidence of the vaccine’s effectiveness against meningococcal B meningitis in children and adolescents, and gonorrhoea in adolescents and young people. This information is vital to inform global meningitis vaccination programmes and policy decisions.” [3]

The authors acknowledge some limitations. While a meaningful reduction in the rate of gonorrhoea among adolescents and young adults was not observed, this was likely due to small case numbers in this age group. The reported effectiveness of 4CMenB against gonorrhoea is consistent with other studies. Co-infections of gonorrhoea and chlamydia may play an important role in disease spread and severity, but factors associated with rates of co-infections are not well understood. However, the analysis shows 4CMenB effectiveness was similar whether co-infections were included or not.

Writing in a linked Comment on both observational studies, Professor Jason Ong, Dr Magnus Unemo, Annabelle Choong, Victor Zhao, and Dr Eric Chow, who were not involved in the studies, highlight key measures to adopt while efforts to develop a gonorrhoea vaccine continue: “In the meantime, we must continue to strengthen prevention efforts, improve access to early diagnosis and evidence-based treatment (index cases and sexual contacts), ensure quality-assured global surveillance systems to inform treatment guidelines, and invest in rapid, reliable point-of-care tests (for detection of N gonorrhoeae and its antimicrobial resistance) and the development of novel therapeutic antimicrobials.”

Vaccination based on infection risk could prevent 110,000 cases in England and save £8 million over 10 years

Until now, no study has assessed both the health impact and cost-effectiveness of using a vaccine to avert gonorrhoea infections.

A modelling study led by Professor Peter White, Imperial College London, UK, is the first analysis of the health and economic effects of using a vaccine to protect against gonorrhoea that accounts for its impact on future rates of infection.

A simulation model was developed to compare three realistic vaccination approaches among men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM) in England: vaccination of all men attending sexual health clinics; vaccination following a confirmed gonorrhoea diagnosis; or vaccination based on risk of infection.

Based on their analysis and a balance of cases prevented vs the cost of vaccination, the authors recommend vaccinating MSM at highest risk of gonorrhoea infection with 4CMenB, which would prevent an estimated 110,000 cases and save £8 million over 10 years.

Professor Peter White said: “With a gonorrhoea-specific vaccine likely to take years to develop, a key question for policymakers is whether the meningitis vaccine 4CMenB should be used against gonorrhoea infection. Our analysis suggests that giving the vaccine to those at the greatest risk of infection is the most cost-effective way to avert large numbers of cases.” [3]

The authors explain that their estimation of the benefit of using 4CMenB to protect against gonorrhoea is conservative. Due to a lack of data at the time of the study, it was assumed a first vaccine dose offers no protection so only those who received a second dose were protected; however, the study by Abara and colleagues suggests one dose offers some protection, increasing the benefit of vaccination. Additionally, vaccination will reduce the future impacts of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) – which are likely to be substantial – meaning that vaccination would be even more beneficial than currently estimated, but further studies are needed to assess the potential future burden of AMR.

Writing in a linked Comment, Dr Mingwang Shen and Dr Lei Zhang, who were not involved in the study, highlight the significance of the findings reported by Professor Peter White and colleagues, saying: “The key message of the study is that vaccination using the 4CMenB vaccine according to the risk of the targeted MSM population is likely to be cost-effective, even if the vaccine were to have a relatively low efficacy and a short duration of protection. Such a strategy should be recommended and rolled out in a high-income country setting such as England.”

NOTES TO EDITORS

The study led by Professor Peter White was funded by the Medical Research Council and National Institute for Health Research. The study led by Professor Helen Marshall was funded by the Government of South Australia. The study led by Dr Winston Abara received no funding.

The study led by Professor Peter White was conducted by researchers from Imperial College London, University of Warwick, and Public Health England. The study led by Dr Winston Abara was conducted by researchers from U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Philadelphia Department of Public Health, and New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The study led by Professor Helen Marshall was conducted by researchers from Women’s and Children’s Health Network, University of Adelaide, and SA Health, Australia.

[1] https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240027077
[2] https://www.meningitis.org/meningitis-2030-plan-agreed-by-who
[3] Quote direct from author and cannot be found in the text of the Article.

The labels have been added to this press release as part of a project run by the Academy of Medical Sciences seeking to improve the communication of evidence. For more information, please see: http://www.sciencemediacentre.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/AMS-press-release-labelling-system-GUIDANCE.pdf if you have any questions or feedback, please contact The Lancet press office pressoffice@lancet.com

IF YOU WISH TO PROVIDE A LINK FOR YOUR READERS, PLEASE USE THE FOLLOWING, WHICH WILL GO LIVE AT THE TIME THE EMBARGO LIFTS:

Paper 1: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(21)00812-4/fulltext

Paper 2: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(21)00754-4/fulltext

Paper 3: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(21)00744-1/fulltext

For interviews with the Comment author, please contact: Prof. Jason Ong E) jason.ong@monash.edu T) +613 93416200

JOURNAL

The Lancet Infectious Diseases

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Effectiveness of a serogroup B outer membrane vesicle meningococcal vaccine against gonorrhoea: a retrospective observational study

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

12-Apr-2022

COI STATEMENT

Paper 1: No competing interests Paper 2: HM is an investigator on vaccine trials sponsored by the GSK group of companies, Pfizer, Sanofi, and Merck. The institution of HM, MM, PA, and BW receives funding for investigator-led studies from industry, including Pfizer and Sanofi Pasteur. HM, MM, PA, and BW receive no personal payments from industry. All other authors report no competing interests. Paper 3: PJW has received payment from Pfizer for teaching of mathematical modelling of infectious disease transmission and vaccination. All other authors declare no competing interests.

New findings show effectiveness of meningococcal B vaccine against gonorrhoea

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE

Professor Helen Marshall AM — IMAGE: PROFESSOR HELEN MARSHALL AM view more
CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE

Researchers at The University of Adelaide have found that the meningococcal B vaccine could improve protection against gonorrhoea in addition to protection against meningococcal B meningitis.

This significant finding, in a joint study with the Women’s and Children’s Hospital, coincides with a rise in gonorrhoea cases globally and increasing bacterial resistance to drugs used to treat the infection.

Led by 2022 South Australian of the Year, University of Adelaide Professor of Vaccinology, and Women’s and Children’s Hospital Senior Medical Practitioner Helen Marshall AM, the observational study found that two doses of the meningococcal B vaccine were 33 per cent effective against gonorrhoea in adolescents and young adults.

Professor Marshall said the research aims to reduce not only gonorrhoea infection, but also the long-term effects of gonorrhoea, including infertility, pelvic inflammatory disease and blindness in babies born to infected mothers.

“With more than 106 million cases of gonorrhoea worldwide, and increasing at a rapid rate, the issue is firmly on the World Health Organisation’s agenda,” Professor Marshall said.

“This research will feed into WHO’s vaccine roadmap to evaluate the evidence about the ability of vaccines to prevent gonorrhoea. Traditionally, treatment for gonorrhoea has relied on antibiotics, but as these have become increasingly less effective due to antibiotic resistant strains, it is vital that we explore new and improved measures to battle this infection.

“In South Australia, where we have a state-funded meningococcal B (MenB) vaccine program for infants, children and adolescents since 2019, we have been able to observe that its effectiveness against gonorrhoea in adolescents is about 33 per cent. Two years after introduction of the state-funded MenB vaccine program, we are already observing high effectiveness against meningococcal B disease and also moderate effectiveness in preventing gonorrhoea.

“The unprecedented scale of South Australia’s MenB vaccination programme offers valuable real-world evidence of the vaccine’s effectiveness against meningococcal B meningitis in children and adolescents, and gonorrhoea in adolescents and young people. This information is vital to inform global meningitis vaccination programmes and policy decisions.”

Left unchecked, gonorrhoea can spread to the blood and cause disseminated gonococcal infection (DGI). DGI is usually characterised by arthritis, tenosynovitis, and/or dermatitis and, ultimately, the condition can be life threatening. Professor Marshall’s research has been published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal.

JOURNAL

The Lancet Infectious Diseases

DOI

10.1016/S1473-3099(21)00754-4

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Effectiveness and impact of the 4CMenB vaccine against invasive serogroup B meningococcal disease and gonorrhoea in an infant, child, and adolescent programme: an observational cohort and case-control study

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

12-Apr-2022

Few UK online sexually transmitted infection test services meet national standards

Peer-Reviewed Publication

BMJ

Few UK online sexually transmitted infection test services meet national recommended standards, with independent sector providers the least likely to be compliant, finds research published online in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections.

The findings have concerning implications for patient care and public health, warn the researchers, who call for urgent regulatory change to ensure full compliance.

Online tests are either self-sampling, where the user orders a kit and takes a specimen themselves before posting it for laboratory analysis, or self-testing, where the user takes a specimen and interprets the test result themselves.

Online testing for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) is subject to limited regulatory oversight. But the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH) and the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare (FSRH) have issued comprehensive national standards and guidelines covering all aspects of these services.

The researchers wanted to find out how well online UK STI test services comply with these standards and guidelines.

They searched Google and Amazon in June 2020 to find online providers, and found 31:13 offered self-test kits; 18 offered self-sample kits. They also found 2 laboratories servicing several providers.

All 13 self-test providers and 13 of the 18 self-sampling providers were privately run. All but one of the self-sample providers were from the UK.

The researchers analysed the information on the tests and associated services on each of the websites. And they requested further details from each provider in July 2020 and again in April 2021 on: intended users; the pretest process; the test process (test and specimen type); health information; monitoring and treatment after diagnosis; and accreditation.

This information was then compared with the BASHH and FSRH guidelines and standards.

Just 7 providers completed the questionnaire. These responses, together with the website information from all the providers, showed that few of them complied with the national guidelines and standards.

The commercial self-sample providers, who advertised to those with symptoms, didn’t differentiate by symptom severity. And 8 (7 private;1 NHS-commissioned) didn’t offer any advice on accessing preventive treatment after exposure to HIV, as recommended.

Self-test providers didn’t appear to provide any form of triage, and 5 offered tests that were intended for professional use only.

The range of eligible organisms for testing varied, although all self-sample providers offered tests for chlamydia and gonorrhoea. Two even claimed to test for organisms not included in routine NHS testing, even though these organisms aren’t considered STIs.

There was often no health promotion information given, and little in the way of sexual history taking. Inappropriate infections were tested for; incorrect specimen types were used; and there was little advice on what to do after a diagnosis.

Eleven self-test providers had at least one of their tests CE-marked—meaning that the product conforms to European health, safety, and environmental protection standards. Two claimed WHO approval and one claimed US Food and Drug Administration accreditation.

One self-test provider marked their chlamydia and gonorrhoea tests with an NHS logo, describing themselves as an NHS provider, but it wasn’t clear if these products had been endorsed by the NHS.

And while UK Accreditation Service (UKAS) accreditation was claimed for self-sample kits, there were no details of the specific laboratory service that had been accredited.

The researchers caution that the providers analysed may have updated their website information since the search was carried out and that those they assessed may not represent the full range of online test service provision in the UK.

But they go on to say: “Very few online providers met the national STI management standards assessed, and there is concern that this will also be the case for service provision aspects that were not covered by this study.”

Online testing offers a convenient and flexible option for users, they point out. “However, the proliferation of providers that do not follow guidelines, in particular for-profit sites, jeopardises these advantages and puts users at risk.

“If current trends continue, online testing usage will increase, resulting in more online providers as demand rises. Regulatory change is required to ensure that the standard of care received online meets national guidelines to protect patients and the wider population from the repercussions of underperforming or inappropriate tests.”

They warn: “If we do not act now, patients will continue to receive suboptimal care with potentially significant adverse personal, clinical and public health implications.”

Notes for editors
Research: Assessment of online self-testing and self-sampling service providers for sexually transmitted infections against national standards in the UK in 2020 doi 10.1136/sextrans-2021-055318

Journal: Sexually Transmitted Infections

Funding: None declared
Link to AMS press release labelling system:
http://press.psprings.co.uk/AMSlabels.pdf

Embargoed link to research
http://press.psprings.co.uk/sti/april/sti055318.pdf
Public link once embargo lifts
https://sti.bmj.com/lookup/doi/10.1136/sextrans-2021-055318

Author contact
Dr Emma Harding-Esch, Clinical Research Department, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK
Tel: + 44 (0)7981 426 788
Email: Emma.Harding-Esch@lshtm.ac.uk

About the journal
Sexually Transmitted Infections is one of 70 specialist journals published by BMJ. The title is an official journal of the British Association of Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH) and the Australasian Chapter of Sexual Health Medicine (AChSHM).
http://sti.bmj.com

Embargoed 23.30 hours UK (BST) Tuesday 12 April 2022

JOURNAL

Sexually Transmitted Infections

DOI

10.1136/sextrans-2021-055318

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Assessment of online self-testing and self-sampling service providers for sexually transmitted infections against national standards in the UK in 2020

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

12-Apr-2022

Deforestation drives climate change that harms remaining forest

UCI researchers reconsider carbon storage with improved climate models, satellite data

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - IRVINE

Irvine, Calif., April 12, 2022 – In a paper published today in Nature Communications, a team led by scientists from the University of California, Irvine, using climate models and satellite data, reveal for the first time how protecting tropical forests can yield climate benefits that enhance carbon storage in nearby areas.

Many climate scientists use computer simulations to mimic the planet’s climate as it exists today and how it may exist in the future as humanity keeps emitting greenhouse gases. Such models rely on accurate measurements all the moving parts of the climate system, from how much sunlight hits and warms the climate, to the response of forest biomass to changes in temperature, rainfall and atmospheric carbon dioxide levels.

The list of moving parts is long, and one part that has until now remained unmeasured is the degree to which deforestation in tropical rainforests like the Amazon and the Congo contributes to additional forest losses because of its effect on regional climate.

“We used Earth system models to quantify what the climate impact from tropical deforestation is today,” said lead author Yue Li, UCI postdoctoral researcher in Earth system science. “Then, we used this information with satellite observations of forest biomass to figure out how nearby forests are responding to these changes.”

Jim Randerson, UCI professor of Earth system science, added: “This paper shows that avoiding deforestation yields carbon benefits in nearby regions as a consequence of climate feedbacks.”

He explained that for a new patch of deforestation in the Amazon, the regional climate changes that happen as a result led to an additional 5.1 percent more loss of total biomass in the entire Amazon basin. In the Congo, the additional biomass loss from the climate effects of deforestation is about 3.8 percent. Tropical forests store about 200 petagrams of carbon in their aboveground biomass. Since 2010, deforestation has been removing about 1 petagram of that carbon every year. (One petagram is equal to 1 trillion kilograms.)

Until now, climate modelers have, for lack of data, not considered tree mortality in their climate simulations. But by combining satellite data with climate variables, they obtained information about how sensitive carbon stored in vegetation is to climatic changes that result from tree mortality and fire.

“Deforestation has ramifications to forests growing elsewhere, because its consequences to the region's air temperature and precipitation,” said co-author Paulo Brando, UCI professor of Earth system science. “Until recently, it was very difficult to isolate the effects of deforestation though.”

By developing new estimates of regional carbon losses from deforestation-driven climate change in the Amazon and the Congo, the team provided information that will help scientists fine tune their models. This “might help us design better climate solutions,” Randerson said. By knowing exactly how much biomass is being lost through this activity, he explained, policymakers can make stronger arguments for why it’s worthwhile to curb deforestation, because they can now better describe the knock-on effects.

Joining Brando, Li and Randerson on this project, which was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science and NASA, were Dave Lawrence at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and Hui Yang from the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Germany.

About the University of California, Irvine: Founded in 1965, UCI is the youngest member of the prestigious Association of American Universities and is ranked among the nation’s top 10 public universities by U.S. News & World Report. The campus has produced five Nobel laureates and is known for its academic achievement, premier research, innovation and anteater mascot. Led by Chancellor Howard Gillman, UCI has more than 36,000 students and offers 224 degree programs. It’s located in one of the world’s safest and most economically vibrant communities and is Orange County’s largest employer, contributing $7 billion annually to the local economy and $8 billion statewide. For more on UCI, visit www.uci.edu.

Media access: Radio programs/stations may, for a fee, use an on-campus ISDN line to interview UCI faculty and experts, subject to availability and university approval. For more UCI news, visit news.uci.edu. Additional resources for journalists may be found at communications.uci.edu/for-journalists.

NOTE TO EDITORS: PHOTO AVAILABLE AT
https://news.uci.edu/2022/04/12/deforestation-drives-climate-change-that-harms-remaining-forest

JOURNAL

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-022-29601-0

ARTICLE TITLE

Deforestation-induced climate change reduces carbon storage in remaining tropical forests

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

12-Apr-2022

Keeping apples fresh using clay films

Long-term food storage technology may help address potential food crises

Peer-Reviewed Publication

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR MATERIALS SCIENCE, JAPAN

Appearance changes — IMAGE: EXTENT OF DECAY IN APPLES TREATED WITH CLAY FILM AND CLING WRAP view more
CREDIT: MIHARU EGUCHI NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR MATERIALS SCIENCE EGUCHI.MIHARU@NIMS.GO.JP

An international research team consisting of NIMS, The University of Queensland and National Taiwan University has succeeded in creating a clay film with its gas permeability optimized for long-term storage of fresh produce by adjusting the sizes of the clay nanosheet particles comprising it. The team then uniformly coated the surfaces of various fruits with the film. This treatment kept the fruits’ respiration rates low without completely depriving them of oxygen, preventing them from decaying.

Efforts have been made to develop gas barrier films using clay nanosheets. Although some researchers attempted to improve the film properties of clay nanosheets by adding organic polymers to them, films can also be formed using only clay nanosheets without additives. Only a few studies had previously evaluated the physical properties of clay films composed solely of clay nanosheets.

This international joint research team focused on the gas permeability of clay films and found that a film composed of clay nanosheets with particle sizes in the range of several dozen nanometers (1 nm = one millionth of 1 mm) had relatively high permeability to gas molecules as they can pass through gaps between particles. This gas permeability is equivalent to that of plastic bags with minute pores used to store fresh produce. These bags are able to adequately reduce oxygen supply to fresh fruit, preventing it from ripening too rapidly. The gas permeability similarities between the clay film and the plastic bags inspired the research team to assess the ability of the clay film to preserve the quality of fresh produce for long periods of time.

In this research, the team applied a suspension of clay nanosheets to the surfaces of various fruits (e.g., apples, bananas and oranges) to form uniform films on their surfaces. The team also prepared untreated fruits and fruits covered in cling wrap for comparison. The gas emissions and appearance of these treated and untreated fruits were monitored for several months. As shown in the figure below, the untreated apples (the first photo from the left) had decayed by the end of the experimental period and the apples covered only in cling wrap (the fourth photo from the left) had also decayed and grown mold. By contrast, the apples coated with the clay film (the two middle photos) did not decay or grew mold, presumably because the film reduced the external oxygen supply needed for ripening and mold growth. In addition, the clay film was confirmed to be in tight contact with the surfaces of the apples it coated, suggesting that it may be able to effectively block the diffusion of ethylene into the air, a phytohormone which plays an important role in inducing fruit ripening.

In addition to its potential ability to restrict the external oxygen supply and ethylene diffusion, the clay film may be able to prevent odor compounds produced by fresh produce from diffusing into the air, possibly making them less attractive to pests. In future research, the team plans to improve the ease of application and strength of the clay film to make it more suitable for preserving the quality of fresh produce during its transportation to the market.

This project was carried out by an international joint research team consisting of Miharu Eguchi (Senior Researcher, Mesoscale Materials Chemistry Group, International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics, NIMS) and researchers from The University of Queensland and National Taiwan University. This work was supported in part by JST-ERATO Yamauchi Materials Space-Tectonics Project.

***

This research was published in Journal of Materials Chemistry A (the January 28, 2022 issue, pp. 1956-1964).

JOURNAL

Journal of Materials Chemistry A

DOI

10.1039/D1TA08837H

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Highly adhesive and disposable inorganic barrier films: made from 2D silicate nanosheets and water

Surfing at the atomic scale: Scientists experimentally confirm new fundamental law for liquids

by Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO)

The first experimental evidence to validate a newly published universal law that provides insights into the complex energy states for liquids has been found using an advanced nuclear technique at ANSTO.

The work has just been published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters as the editor's choice and featured on the front cover of the journal.

The equation for the vibrational density of states formulated by Alessio Zaccone and Matteo Bagglioli was published in a paper in PNAS in 2021, providing an answer to a question that has been elusive for at least a century.

The elegant mathematical theory has solved the problem of obtaining the distribution of these complex energy states for liquids.

"One of the most important quantities in the physics of matter is the distribution of the frequencies or vibrational energies of the waves that propagate in the material. It is particularly important as it is the starting point for calculating and understanding some fundamental properties of matter, such as specific heat and thermal conductivity, and the light-matter interaction, "said Prof Zaccone on the University of Milan website.

"The big problem with liquids is that, in addition to acoustic waves, there are other types of vibrational excitations related to low energies of the disordered motion of atoms and molecules— excitations that are almost absent in solids. These excitations are typically short-lived and are linked to the dynamic chaos of molecular motions but are nevertheless very numerous and important, especially at low energies. Mathematically, these excitations, known as 'instantaneous normal modes' or INMs in the specialized literature are very difficult to deal with as they correspond to energy states described by imaginary numbers."

The time-of-flight neutron spectrometer Pelican at ANSTO's Center for Neutron Scattering has been used to measure the vibrational densities of states for several liquid systems including water, liquid metal, and polymer liquids. The Pelican instrument has the extreme sensitivity to measure rotational and translational vibrations over short time intervals and at low energies.

The experiments at ANSTO confirmed the linear relationship of the vibrational density of states with frequency at low energies as predicted by Alessio Zaccone and Matteo Bagglioli, as shown in the figure below.

With the COVID lockdown, no accessibility to instruments, the small team that included University of Wollongong Ph.D. candidate Caleb Stamper, Dr. Cortie and Dr. Yu decided to focus on re-analyzing past experimental data from a new perspective, to validate the new law, inspired by the theoretical work from Alessio Zaccone and Matteo Bagglioli.

"The exercise not only achieves such a great outcome but also provides a good introduction of neutron spectroscopy to Caleb, who has done an excellent job," said Dr. Yu as Caleb's ANSTO supervisor and the corresponding author of the paper.

The work would also help them address questions relating to phase transitions in superionic liquids in their work on thermoelectric materials.

"Major challenges arise because liquids are not mechanically stable, as the atoms in a liquid diffuse and the liquid as a whole will flow," explained Dr. Cortie.

The universal law is based on a theoretical framework, known as instantaneous normal modes, as described by Prof Zaccone above, which prescribe a set of instantaneous forces, frequencies, and velocities as quantities.

A complication in deriving a theory to predict the vibrational density of states in liquids arose because of the presence of a small fraction of "imaginary modes."

"Imaginary modes are important because they represent the fact that a liquid is not stable. The atoms in a liquid are strongly interacting with one another all the time but not in the same way a solid does. The relationship is not 'harmonic' meaning that the atoms are not going to be restored to the same configuration after an interaction. The atoms will continue to diffuse quickly and slide past each other," said Stamper.

"The imaginary modes reflect the negative curvature on the potential energy surface of a liquid. It is a very complex energy landscape but if you think of the analogy of a surfer on an ocean wave. The atoms in the liquid follow the curves of the wave itself (see the front cover of the journal). But the atoms can be in a position on the crest, under the surfboard or in the trough, always moving," said Dr. Yu.

"The law will play, for liquids, the same pivotal role that the Debye law plays for solids. It will serve as the foundation for the whole research field involving liquids and beyond.Molecular 'dances' determine how liquids take up heat

More information: Caleb Stamper et al, Experimental Confirmation of the Universal Law for the Vibrational Density of States of Liquids, The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters (2022). DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.2c00297

Alessio Zaccone et al, Universal law for the vibrational density of states of liquids, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2021). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2022303118

Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

Provided by Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO)

USA

New study provides guidance for reconsidering harmful place names in national parks

Peer-Reviewed Publication

OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY

In a new study examining the origins of more than 2,000 place names in 16 U.S. national parks, researchers have developed a tool for evaluating and changing names that may be harmful or rooted in white supremacy.

Oregon State University associate professor Natchee Barnd is a co-author of “Words Are Monuments,” published last week in the journal People and Nature. The intent of the paper is to open a conversation about place names, rather than defaulting to the assumption that those names are neutral, he said.

“There’s a process by which those names are chosen,” said Barnd, whose work focuses partly on Indigenous geography. “And if we’re operating within a system that has been grounded in white supremacy, it’s probably going to reflect that — some really explicitly and vehemently, and some by default or accidentally, such as the fact that a name is in English.”

That doesn’t mean all names need to be immediately changed, he said, but researchers sought to provide a tool people can use to think about how those names came to be.

While the work focused on national parks, the authors expect the categorization tool they developed to be applicable for people or institutions in any location seeking to improve naming practices.

For the study, researchers analyzed 2,241 place names in 16 national parks across the U.S., from Acadia in Maine to Hawai’i Volcanoes in Hawai’i. They created “decision trees” to classify name meanings into different categories, which allowed them to group together place names with similar origins so they could find and describe patterns in naming across parks in a consistent way.

Classifications included language origin; derogatory (involving use of a racial slur); erasure (such as replacement of Indigenous names); and dimensions of racism and colonialism.

All 16 parks contained at least one place or feature named after people who supported racist ideologies, capitalized on Indigenous colonization and/or participated in acts of genocide, the study said.

Researchers found 107 natural features with traditional Indigenous place names. They classified 214 names as appropriation, where Indigenous or Indigenous-sounding names were used incorrectly and without Indigenous input or consent; and 254 names that memorialize settler colonialism, such as Cadillac Mountain in Acadia, named for a French colonizer.

They found 21 names that commemorate individuals who espoused racist ideas, including Hayden Valley in Yellowstone, named for Ferdinand Hayden, a geologist who wrote that unless Native Americans were forcefully assimilated, “they must ultimately be exterminated.”

More nuanced were the 364 names that researchers classified as European (non-Indigenous) in origin with no record of their meaning, including descriptive names like Clear Creek and Long Pond.

“One goal is to open up the conversation and getting to the place of saying that these names are not neutral; they are values being represented in some way,” Barnd said. “Maybe we find out that the name has this whole history we don’t know about. It’s about trying to find intention, to trace a lineage. But you have to use a scientific process to sort through these names.”

This undertaking should be a collaborative process, he said. For example, in Oregon, a coalition of local agencies led by the Marys Peak Alliance recently worked with the Siletz and Grand Ronde tribes to pick names for some unnamed creeks on Marys Peak, just west of Corvallis.

The next step, after reconsidering place names and potentially replacing them with traditional Indigenous history in mind, will be returning ownership to the tribes as well, Barnd said.

National parks provide a perfect starting point for this process, he said. The parks have a long history of co-management with tribes, including deferring to tribal knowledge for how best to manage the land and resources, and substantial numbers of tribal members working in national parks.

“There are places where we can do things differently,” Barnd said. “Names are part of how we create the world we live in and believe in and understand. They’re not just there; we’re creating that meaning, which is also creating the meaning of ourselves.”

Co-authors on the study were Bonnie McGill, Stephanie Borelle, Grace Wu, Kurt Ingeman and Jonathan Uhuad Koch from the Society for Conservation Biology in Washington, D.C.

JOURNAL

People and Nature

DOI

10.1002/pan3.10302

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Content analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Words are monuments: Patterns in US national park place names perpetuate settler colonial mythologies including white supremacy

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

6-Apr-2022

Lead toxicity risk factors in Philadelphia

Two studies led by the University of Pennsylvania identify factors that correlate with high blood-lead levels in children, pointing to environmental justice issues that disproportionately fall on children of color and poorer communities in the city.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

Philadelphia is the poorest large city in the United States. It’s also unusual in having a high proportion of homeowners compared to renters. Taken together, this means that poorer homeowners may lack the funds to maintain and make needed repairs to their homes, leaving them at risk of a variety of related health issues, including exposure to lead.

Two papers led by a group at the University of Pennsylvania explore how factors such as household income, building age, building code violations, proximity to former lead smelters, and other factors align with lead-toxicity risk, as evidenced by elevated blood-lead levels in children 6 years old and younger and lead content in soil samples from around the city.

In the first study, published in 2021 in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, the researchers used geospatial tools to develop a lead-toxicity-risk index that identified eight ZIP codes, mainly in North and West Philadelphia, as the most burdened by lead toxicity. The second study, published earlier this year in GeoHealth, took a finer-scale look at some of those at-risk communities, using census tract data. That analysis underscored the link between housing code violations and demolition of older homes to higher lead-exposure risks.

“More than 80% of the housing stock in Philadelphia was built before 1980, meaning that they likely contain lead paint,” says Reto Gieré, senior author on both papers and a professor in Penn’s Department of Earth and Environmental Science in the School of Arts & Sciences. The United States banned lead paint for residential use in 1978.

“Also, the city has had special policies to build affordable homes for low-income residents, so the rate of private homeownership is much higher than in most other cities,” he says. “While that is beneficial in some regards, we also found a correlation between the percentage of children with high blood-lead levels and homeownership.”

The findings underscore the role of economic and racial disparities when it comes to lead toxicity. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recognizes that communities of color and low-income populations are at a higher risk of lead poisoning.

“Our data clearly show that lead exposure and poisoning are not only an environmental health problem but also an environmental-justice issue,” Gieré says.

Lead risks, from the ground up

Not only are children more susceptible than adults to lead’s toxic effects, they are also more likely to get exposed, playing outside in soil that may contain lead, or on the floor inside near lead-containing dust. In addition, young children often put objects or their hands in their mouths, increasing the likelihood of ingesting lead.

In Philadelphia, the percentage of children with elevated blood-lead levels (a concentration above 5 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood) appears to be on the decline, with rates falling by half or more since 2008. Yet the lasting harm of lead poisoning to children’s cognitive capacities and other aspects of their development, as well as the unequal racial impact—Black children are more likely to have elevated blood-lead levels than other children—make it an issue that demands action, the researchers say.

For years, Richard Pepino, an instructor at Penn and coauthor on the recent studies, has taught an Academically Based Community Service course on lead in Philadelphia. His students have visited schools and other sites in the city, collecting soil samples and testing them for lead content. In addition, Penn’s Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology has led soil sample collection and testing across the city, mapping the results.

Combining these 1,300-plus samples with more than 1,270 soil samples from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) soil library, Penn researchers and a team from Haverford College analyzed them with respect to other publicly available data such as household median income, percentage of homes built before 1980, and rates of elevated blood-lead levels in children age 6 and younger. The group investigated the datasets for possible correlations and created a series of thematic maps of Philadelphia to highlight areas with highest risks of lead exposure.

A major outcome of the first paper, led by Michael O’Shea, Gieré’s former graduate student who now works for the EPA, was the clear connection between demographic factors like household income and race with elevated blood-lead levels. According to the lead index, newly developed during this research, the highest-risk ZIP codes were 19121, 19132, 19133, 19134, 19140, 19141, 19143, and 19144 in North and West/Southwest Philadelphia.

The study also revealed certain limitations of the researchers’ dataset of soil samples, including unevenness in terms of numbers: Some ZIP codes had nearly 200 samples each, whereas others had fewer than five.

“What came out very clearly was that we need to do more testing,” says Gieré. “Some areas, like the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood, had fairly few soil datapoints but are high-risk zones.”

Unequal burdens

Building on those results, the GeoHealth paper focused on the high-risk ZIP codes, this time using census tract data to see whether new patterns would turn up on this finer-scale view. Led by Haverford undergraduate Hasibe Caballero-Gómez, the study found that high rates of housing code violations and demolitions were strongly correlated with elevated blood-lead levels.

“Demolition is an interesting risk factor that has not previously been carefully considered,” says Marilyn Howarth, a study co-author and director of community engagement at the Center foir Excellence in Environmental Toxicology. “Demolition liberates all kinds of particulates from the contents of building materials, and in this case those building materials include many layers of lead paint, and that lead paint may already be in disrepair or fragmented. That gives the material a head start, allowing it to travel to adjacent properties, to streets and sidewalks, to people’s backyards and front porches, and it has the ability to be tracked into homes.”

Gieré describes this as a vicious circle: Poverty prevents residents from completing necessary home maintenance, which leads to housing code violations and exposed lead paint, in some cases triggering demolitions that increase the amount of lead dust in the local environment.

Both studies also examined the influence of a historic network of smelters, known sources of lead, but lacked the sampling strength to tie their impact to current public health metrics and soil-lead levels. Future effort will go into collecting samples from currently undersampled but high-risk areas of the city. But for now, the researchers say their findings point to specific and localized communities in Philadelphia that require support and intervention to reduce exposure to lead.

Pepino is proud of what Penn has accomplished working with citywide collaborators to address the dangers of lead exposure. But, as he reminds his students, “childhood lead poisoning is a life-long burden that leaves a permanent mark on vulnerable children of color and society at large.”

The team believe their reports should inspire action.

"My hope is that the city will read this article and then specifically direct resources to the identified high-risk areas, which should be the priority of future lead-poisoning prevention intiatives,” says Gieré.

Reto Gieré is a professor in the School of Arts & Sciences’ Department of Earth and Environmental Science.

Marilyn Howarth is a physician and an adjunct associate professor of systems pharmacology and translational therapeutics. She is also director of community engagement at the Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology (CEET) and deputy director of the Philadelphia Regional Center for Children’s Environmental Health, both in Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine.

Richard Pepino is deputy director of the community engagement core of CEET and coordinator of the Academically Based Community Service courses in the School of Arts & Sciences’ Department of Earth and Environmental Science at Penn.

Gieré, Pepino, and Howarth’s co-authors on the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health paper were Penn’s Michael O’Shea, Jonas Toupal, and Thomas McKeon, and Haverford College’s Hasibe Caballero-Gómez. O’Shea, now with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, who was first author on the work.

That study was supported, in part, by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) (Grant ES013508), Penn’s Benjamin Franklin Fellowship, and the Greg and Susan Walker Foundation.

Gieré, Pepino, and Howarth’s co-authors on the GeoHealth article were O’Shea and Haverford College’s Caballero-Gómez and Helen White. Caballero-Gómez was first author.

That study was supported, in part, by the NIEHS (Grant ES013508)

JOURNAL

GeoHealth

DOI

10.1029/2021GH000519

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Spatial analysis and lead-risk assessment of Philadelphia, USA

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

28-Feb-2022

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