Taking pride in identity may protect mental health against online hate, experience of Asian Americans finds

Peer-Reviewed Publication

TAYLOR & FRANCIS GROUP

Feeling proud of your background is key to one’s mental health when dealing with online racism, a new study in the Journal of Applied Communication Research suggests. 

 

Identity affirmation was linked to better psychological health in Asian Americans who were faced by a rise in online hate speech at the start of the Covid pandemic. 

 

Being proud of who you are and what you stand for, a form of resilience, was also associated with better physical health, better personal relationships and greater satisfaction with living circumstances. 

 

“Online hate speech attacks deep components of human identity and so may have sparked people’s need to reaffirm core elements of who they are,” says researcher Stephanie Tom Tong, an associate professor of communication studies at Wayne State University in the US.   

 

“This may have offered them comfort, provided them with meaning or helped guide their behaviour, making them more able to protect themselves against the damaging effects of online racial harassment.” 

 

Hate speech directed at Asians has surged during Covid, with many Americans following Donald Trump’s lead in blaming China for starting the pandemic.   

 

Research has shown that 30% of Americans believe China or Chinese people are responsible for the virus and that anti-Asian hate speech has increased ten-fold on platforms such as Twitter. 

 

It wasn’t clear, however, to what extent people in the US were aware of the rise, considering that it occurred against a backdrop of Covid-related job losses, illness and bereavement. 

The increase in online hate speech may also have been masked by the long-standing perception of Asian Americans as being a “model minority” that leads problem-free, successful lives, untouched by racism.   

Recent research into race in America found that people were more likely to think that being Asian helped someone get ahead, than hinder them. However, the majority of Asian Americans who took part in the poll said they’d experienced discrimination or unfair treatment because of their ethnicity. 

Dr Tong surveyed 1,767 Americans, including 455 Asian Americans, in May 2020 about whether they thought there had been a rise in the amount of anti-Asian hate speech appearing online during the pandemic.   

 

The respondents were also questioned about their health and whether they had engaged in identity affirmation and other forms of resilience to help them cope with the stress of the pandemic. 

 

Resilience is defined as the ability to bounce back from, or adapt to, stressful or traumatic experiences that disrupt the normal flow of life.   

 

The Asian Americans perceived there to be a greater increase in online hate speech and were more likely to show resilience. 

 

This could be through identity affirmation, creating new routines, making an effort to maintain social networks, reframing stressful situations or trying to move forward with their lives. 

 

People who showed resilience in the face of online racism were also more likely to say they were in better physical health, have better personal relationships and be more satisfied with their living circumstances. 

 

The authors acknowledge that they weren’t able to prove causation and it is also possible that people who are in better mental health are more likely to practice resilience and to be more empathic and aware of the plight of others. 

 

They do, however, believe that learning how to be more resilient could be key to coping with online racism and call on the US government to commit more resources to culturally appropriate mental health services, particularly those that teach resilience. Stigma, language and access barriers and differences in values mean existing services tend to be under-used by Asian Americans. 

 

They add that although they focused on the rise in online racial hate speech during the pandemic, they hope that their results will be of wider relevance. 

 

“While coronavirus has impacted society on multiple fronts – health, social, economic and political – one of the most heinous fallouts has been the racial hate speech directed at people of Asian origin,” says Dr Tong. 

 

“Online hate speech is, however, a worldwide problem and we are optimistic that fostering resilience will help people bounce back from it.” 

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JOURNAL

Journal of Applied Communication Research

DOI

10.1080/00909882.2022.2141068 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Survey

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Racism and resilience of pandemic proportions: Online harassment of Asian Americans during COVID-19

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

16-Dec-2022

Poorer physical health among those who experience discrimination in Canada

More than 90% of refugees, immigrants and racialized Canadians aged 15-64 are in good physical health, but those who experienced discrimination, those with poor mental health, the unmarried and men did not fare as well

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

With the projected influx of refugees coming to Canada, particularly with global crises such as the war in Ukraine, it is imperative to understand the health outcomes of refugees who settle in Canada.

A new study from the University of Toronto has suggested that the health of working age refugees — aged 15-64 — is similar to that of immigrants and Canadian-born individuals. More than nine out of ten of the refugees, many of whom arrived in Canada decades earlier, reported good health. These findings are in contrast to previous research in the US and elsewhere that has suggested poorer physical health outcomes among refugees, compared to those born within the host country.  It is possible that Canada’s universal health coverage may have contributed to the positive health outcomes among refugees in the study.

Overall, race also did not seem to be a factor in physical health outcomes, with nine in ten racialized Canadians reporting good physical health, which was comparable to the White population.

One of the study’s key findings related to the interaction between discrimination and health. Approximately 40% of refugees and immigrants and one-third of those born in Canada reported they had experienced some form of discrimination (e.g., racism, sexism, ageism) in the past 5 years. Refugees, immigrants, and the Canadian-born respondents who had not experienced discrimination had almost double the odds of reporting good health.

“Although the high prevalence of good physical health among refugees and immigrants is very encouraging, the strong link we found between discrimination and poor health underlines the importance of anti-discrimination strategies and trainings in healthcare and workplace settings.” said first author, Alyssa McAlpine, a recent MSW graduate of the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work (FIFSW) at the University of Toronto.

Good mental health was the strongest factor associated with good physical health.  Only 1 in 5 refugees in poor mental health had good physical health compared to 94% of refugees who were in good mental health.

“Our findings highlight that the mind and body is a continuum. It is important that doctors, social workers, and other health professionals screen for mental illness and refer those who are struggling for treatment. There is strong evidence that a particular form of talk therapy called cognitive behavioral therapy is very efficacious with refugees as well as the general population” said senior author, Esme Fuller-Thomson, a professor at FIFSW and director of the Institute for Life Course & Aging at the University of Toronto. 

Social support networks were also associated with physical health. Those who belonged to social groups or associations and those who were married were more likely to be in good physical health.

“Overall, our findings suggest the importance of promoting programs to improve social networks and opportunities for refugees” explained co-author Professor Usha George, Academic Director, Toronto Metropolitan Centre for Immigration and Settlement. “Greater social integration may be protective to the health of refugees, particularly those who are socially isolated.”

Additionally, among refugees, women were more likely to report good physical health. In contrast, among immigrants, men had a higher prevalence of good physical health and among those born in Canada there were no sex-differences in self-reported physical health.

Data within the study was retrieved from Statistics Canada’s nationally representative 27th General Social Survey (GSS-27). In total, there were 17,082 respondents between the ages of 15-64, which included refugees (n=753), immigrants (n=5,063), and Canadian-born individuals (n=11,266). This paper was published in Advances in Public Health.  The study was supported by the Social Science and Humanities Research (Grant number:435-2020-0177; PI Esme Fuller-Thomson).

This publication is dedicated to co-author, Dr. Karen Kobayashi of the University of Victoria, Canada, who passed away on May 28, 2022. She devoted her career to improving the well-being of immigrants in Canada and to mentoring the next generation of immigration scholars.

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JOURNAL

Advances in Public Health

DOI

10.1155/2022/9429242 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Survey

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Self-Reported Health of Working-Age Refugees, Immigrants, and the Canadian-Born

Wood-eating clams use their poop to dominate their habitat

Peer-Reviewed Publication

FIELD MUSEUM

 

IMAGE: BOREHOLES DUG BY THE WOOD-BORING CLAMS. THE CLAMS FILL THESE BOREHOLES WITH THEIR OWN POOP, MAKING THE SUNKEN WOOD AN INHOSPITABLE ENVIRONMENT FOR OTHER SPECIES. view more 

CREDIT: MEG DALY

Deep beneath the waves, tiny clams with shells usually about as big as a pea bore into pieces of sunken wood. The wood is food for them, as well as a home. These rare, scattered, sunken pieces of wood support miniature ecosystems where different wood-boring clam species can live in harmony for years. But in a new paper in Marine Biodiversity, researchers found that one group of wood-boring clams has evolved a unique way to get the wood all for itself: building chimneys made of poop.

“There are two challenges every sea creature has to face: getting pure water in, so you can get oxygen to your gills, and getting rid of your waste. Because nobody wants to live in their poop. But here are these clams living with theirs, and actually thriving,” says Janet Voight, Associate Curator of invertebrate zoology at the Field Museum and the study’s lead author.

Scientists can put wood on the seafloor, return months or even years later, and recover it with “an amazing array of animals,” says Voight; other times wood that has been submerged for the same amount of time comes up so gnawed and bored-through that you can crumble it in your hand. This difference was a mystery, and Voight wanted to know why.

She took stock of the wood-boring clam species present in reports of sunken wood from all over the world, and she noticed a pattern. “There are six main branches in the wood-boring clam family tree, and every woodfall that was bored so heavily it was crushable by hand turned out to have been bored by a species from the same single branch of that family tree,” says Voight. She says she was surprised by this finding-- “that’s not supposed to happen, you just assume that all wood-boring clam species, which tend to look pretty similar, bore into wood the same way. And yet, here’s one group that’s doing something totally different.”

Scientists had suggested that the extra-chewed-up wood was due to lots of larvae happening to be present nearby, or warmer water temperatures, but it turns out, the very nature of the clams may be responsible. Voight noted all of these extra-efficient, related species have a common trait where the sun don’t shine. As the clams dig and move into their boreholes in the wood, they fill the space around them inside the holes with their own feces.

“They don’t do it on purpose, their anatomy makes them do it,” says Voight. “When these clams bore into wood, their little shell does the boring.” Meanwhile, the clams’ siphons, tubular appendages for taking in water to get oxygen and expelling waste, stick out behind them. “In most wood-boring clams, these two “in and out” siphons are equal in length and stick out into the water column,” says Voight. “But in these related hyper-nasty borers, the siphon for expelling de-oxygenated water and feces is short; it stays inside the borehole in the wood. As a result, says Voight, “they poop in their borehole. They just have to, unless they really, really push.” The waste stays right there with the clam, forming a chimney that wraps around the siphon.

That animals would evolve an anatomy that keeps them in such close contact with their own waste, is surprising, says Voight: “It sure isn’t very hygienic, and yet they show no evidence of immune problems. They're healthy, they're clearly going to town on the wood. So why did they evolve this way?”

She and her colleagues hypothesized that these fecal chimneys might cue larval settlement: that their free-floating larvae might be able to detect the poop and make their way to it to make a home alongside members of their own species.

But that still leaves the problem: even if a poop chimney serves as a beacon for other members of their species to join them on their wood, how can these individuals survive as more and more larvae settle and the environment becomes filthier and oxygen becomes less available?

“This group of species of clam has been shown in previous studies to be unusually tolerant of low oxygen,” says Voight. They also have additional adaptations, like a mucosal lining of their fecal chimneys, and a substance like hemoglobin in their blood that picks up more oxygen; both may reduce the risk of sulfide poisoning from the waste. Taken together, these adaptations allow these species to survive in conditions that would make non-related wood-boring clams sick. The end result is more wood for the chimney-producing species to eat, live in, and for their offspring to settle on, unbothered by competitors.

Beyond just solving the mystery of the gross chewed-up wood with an even grosser solution, Voight says that the study illustrates the importance of looking at ecology with an understanding of how different species are related to each other.

“When you’re confronted with something that seems enigmatic, sometimes you need to step back and look at the big picture, put a lot of different studies together, to see how what had appeared to be enigmatic is a product of evolution,” says Voight. “Having a good family tree can help reveal patterns, and the more we know about the evolutionary histories of these different groups, the more we’ll be able to find out about how they fit together.”

###

  

Wood retrieved from the ocean floor that's been so thoroughly chewed up by the clams that you can crumble it with your hand.

CREDIT

Kate Golembiewski, Field Museum

JOURNAL

Marine Biodiversity

DOI

10.1007/s12526-022-01306-z 

ARTICLE TITLE

Competition in the deep sea: phylogeny determines destructive impact of wood-boring xylophagaids (Mollusca: Bivalvia)

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

15-Dec-2022

Measuring the stress of moving house

Moving is considered stressful, but just how stressful is it? University of Auckland researchers have developed an original method of investigation.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND

University of Auckland Business School researcher Dr William Cheung is analysing micro-level data about people and households to examine the effects of moving house on mental well-being and stress.

His study, co-authored with business analyst Daniel Wong scrutinises stress levels among adults in the Auckland region, namely homeowners and renters, alongside a control group of non-movers. Overall, the results show that the average stress level of homeowners is significantly higher than renters, and those who move more frequently are more stressed than those who don't. The data also suggests that individuals dealing with high stress levels are predisposed to move house.

While acute stresses seem to result in one-off movements, Dr Cheung says chronic stresses result in more frequent movement. The study also shows that stress levels decrease over time when individuals don't move. Cheung says social housing tenants have much higher baseline stress levels than both homeowners and renters.

While research has shown that moving house is detrimental to mental well-being," Dr Cheung says in his paper, "our studies further suggest that frequent relocation and the housing tenure types, especially owner-occupier, is a substantial contributor to stress."

As a result, the study's authors recommend implementing housing strategies that ensure housing can be sustained over time. Dr Cheung says this may include assistance programmes that make housing more attainable for the vulnerable, such as those encountering mental illness. "We need economic programmes that aid individuals at risk of losing their homes and, as well as providing stable housing, mental health services must be available, easily accessible among urban residents, and designed to remain amenable under transient circumstances."

The average stress levels of non-movers, renters, homeowners, and social housing residents aged between 19 and 54 living in urban Auckland between 2013 and 2018 were analysed by Cheung and Wong using the government's Integrated Data Infrastructure, which is based on micro-level individual census data.

This census data enabled them to reconstruct what's known as the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS), a stress comparison scale developed in the 1960s by two psychiatrists. The original SRRS attributes up to 100 points to different life stressors, ranging from 100 points for a spouse's death to 11 points for minor law violations. Other examples include moving house (20 points), incurring a large mortgage (37) and divorce (73 points).

Dr Cheung says the new method resulted in an instrument that can measure the socioeconomic impact on an individual in any population segment far more cost-effectively than current measures. Using the census data and the SRRS model also proved more efficient than conventional surveys, with better sensitivity and an increased ability to identify influences on the individual.

"We advanced our understanding of the stress of moving homes; the influence of mobility on place experience; and the circumstances, advantages and challenges of moving home over a resident's lifetime." By progressing people's understanding of such stressors, Dr Cheung says researchers can contribute to broader discussions on how an individual's personal history and social mobility influence their social well-being. 

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JOURNAL

Urban Science

DOI

10.3390/urbansci6040075 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Measuring the Stress of Moving Homes: Evidence from the New Zealand Integrated Data Infrastructure

HKU Mechanical Engineering team develops new microscale 3D printer for multi-level anticounterfeiting labels

Peer-Reviewed Publication

THE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG

 

IMAGE: DR JI TAE KIM (LEFT) AND DR JIHYUK YANG (RIGHT) view more 

CREDIT: THE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG

Counterfeiting threatens the global economy and security. According to the report issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in 2020, the value of global counterfeit and pirated products is estimated between US$ 1.7 and 4.5 trillion a year. Despite enormous efforts, conventional anticounterfeiting approaches such as QR codes can be easily fabricated due to limited data encryption capacity on a planar space. How can we increase the encryption density in a limited space?

The team led by Dr Ji Tae Kim from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) has developed a high-precision 3D printing method that can produce new polarisation-encoded 3D anticounterfeiting labels. This new 3D label can encrypt more digital information than a traditional 2D label. The work has been published in Nano Letters in an article entitled “Three-Dimensional Printing of Dipeptides with Spatioselective Programming of Crystallinity for Multilevel Anticounterfeiting”.

Diphenylalanine (FF), a species of dipeptides, was chosen as a material for data encryption due to its unique optical properties. Dr Jihyuk Yang from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, HKU, explained: “FF has long attracted great attention to neuroscientists due to its association with Alzheimer's disease. Recently, FF is emerging as a new electronic and photonic device material due to its unique properties – e.g. piezoelectricity and optical birefringence – arising from crystalline nature.” Dr Yang is the first author of the paper.

 “Our new 3D printing method combined with nature-driven molecular self-assembly can print multi-segmented 3D FF micro-pixels with programmed crystallinity for high-density data encryption. By utilising different responses of the amorphous and crystalline segments to polarised light, a tiny single 3D pixel can encrypt a multi-digit binary code consisting of "0" and “1". The information capacity can be increased to 211 with a single eleventh-segmented freestanding pixel on a tiny 4 µm2 area which is 1000 times smaller than a hair strand,” said Dr Ji Tae Kim. He believes that 3D printing technology can be effectively used to customise security labels on-demand anywhere and anytime, contributing to strengthening the information security of individuals and companies.

Link to the journal article: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.nanolett.2c01761

Scheme: 3D printing process of polarization-encoded 3D micro-pixels

CREDIT

The University of Hong Kong

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JOURNAL

Nano Letters

DOI

10.1021/acs.nanolett.2c01761 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Computational simulation/modeling

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Three-Dimensional Printing of Dipeptides with Spatioselective Programming of Crystallinity for Multilevel Anticounterfeiting

Catalyzing ‘net-zero’ green hydrogen from the sun: HKU chemists discover a fundamental catalyst protonation process to promote solar-driven water-splitting for hydrogen production without CO2 emissions

Peer-Reviewed Publication

THE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG

 

IMAGE: CHEMISTS AT HKU DISCOVER A FUNDAMENTAL CATALYST PROTONATION PROCESS TO ENHANCE PRODUCTIVITY OF SOLAR-DRIVEN WATER-SPLITTING FOR HYDROGEN BY EIGHT TIMES, CATALYSING GREEN ENERGY WITHOUT CO2 EMISSIONS. view more 

CREDIT: THE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG

Hydrogen is a promising green energy carrier for a sustainable future. However, it is mostly locked in water. Energy is required to liberate it from water for practical use. Solar energy is abundantly renewable, ideal for direct water-splitting to generate hydrogen using a ‘photocatalyst’. However, despite of considerable effort, practical adoption has been slow due to relatively low efficiency and high cost of the catalyst.

A research team led by Professor Zheng-Xiao GUO and Professor David Lee PHILLIPS from the HKU-CAS Joint Laboratory on New Materials and the Department of Chemistry of The University of Hong Kong (HKU), has reported the discovery of an important in-situ protonation process that the photodynamics and separation of charge carriers in a photocatalyst, leading to efficient hydrogen generation from water using visible solar light. The process is enabled in an interstitial phosphorus doped carbon nitride structure, with only earth-abundant non-metallic elements, for its cost-effectiveness and high potential for practical applications. The research findings are recently published online in a top scientific journal, Energy & Environmental Science.

Background and Achievement
Extensive research efforts have been devoted to the development of photocatalysts for solar-driven energy conversion with improved activity, efficiency and durability, mostly via: charge separation, transfer and utilisation. However, the complex multi-electron transfer, proton coupling and intermediate dynamics can all influence the photocatalytic pathway, kinetics and efficiency, which have not been well understood. It is thus highly desirable to foster in-depth investigations integrating innovative synthesis design, microscopic and spectroscopic characterisations and atomic simulations at the molecular level.

With full appreciation of the current efforts and the challenges in photocatalysis, the HKU team examined the fundamental issues from a different angle and proposed a new fundamental process of a proton-mediated photocatalytic mechanism to enhance the photo-dynamics, charge separation and hence the overall efficiency of an interstitial phosphorus-doped carbon-nitride, g-C3N4. The in-situ proton-mediated mechanism points to a new role of the water molecule, not just as a solvent or reactant but as an effective band-structure modifier of the catalyst in the overall design of effective photocatalytic processes.

In essence, the team has developed an effective atomic heterojunction by porosity-stabilised interstitial P-doping and in-situ protonation to induce shallow trap states, which effectively: a) enhance the lifetime of the excited states and b) restrain undesirable deep charge trapping, leading to efficient water decomposition. For the first time, the team has identified that the in-situ protonation of an interstitially anchored phosphorus in a holey g-C3-xN4 is a very effective structural configuration of the catalyst for highly efficient and stable visible-light hydrogen generation.

‘We expect that our discovery will open up a new line of thinking in the future design of photocatalysts for effective solar energy utilisation, by paying more attention to operando structural dynamism as a viable handle to pump up the conversion efficiency,’ said Professor Zheng-Xiao Guo.

‘Spectroscopic investigations show a colourful world of nanomaterials, and it will cast more light on the mechanistic insights of science and technologies,’ echoed Professor David Lee Phillips.

About Professor Zheng-Xiao Guo
Professor Zheng-Xiao Guo is a joint-faculty Professor of Chemistry and Mechanical Engineering at HKU, an Honorary Professor at the University College London (UCL), an Elected Member of Academia Europaea (The Academy of Europe), as well as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining. He was a Professor of Chemistry at UCL (2007-18), and prior to this, a Lecturer (1995-98), Reader (1998-99) and Professor (2000-07) at Queen Mary, the University of London. He was a research fellow at the University of Oxford (1990-95), and of Strathclyde (1988-90), respectively, with a PhD and an MRes from the University of Manchester in 1988 and 1984, and a BEng in Materials Science from the Northeastern University/China in 1983, respectively.

More information about his research group: https://zxguo.hku.hk/

About Professor David Lee Phillips
Professor David Lee Phillips is a Chair Professor at HKU Department of Chemistry. As an internationally recognised chemist, he uses time-resolved spectroscopy experiments and quantum mechanical calculations to study short-lived intermediates in chemical reactions of interest in chemistry, biology and the environment. He has published more than 350 internationally refereed scientific journal articles listed in Science Citation Index.

He serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of the journal Molecules and also on the Advisory Board of the Journal of Physical Organic Chemistry. Professor Phillips graduated with a PhD from the University of California, Irvine.

More information about his research group: https://sites.google.com/view/dlplab/home?pli=1

About the Research Team
Dr Wenchao WANG (Postdoctoral fellow) from Professor Guo’s group is the first author. Professor Lili DU from the Jiangsu University, Professor Hung Kay LEE from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and other HKU researchers (including Miss Ruiqin XIA; Dr Runhui LIANG; Mr Tao ZHOU; Dr Zhiping YAN; Miss Hao LUO; Dr Congxiao SHANG) in the Department of Chemistry contributing to the research.

Supplementary Information
W. Wang, L. Du, R. Xia, R. Liang, T. Zhou, H. K. Lee, Z. Yan, H. Luo, C. Shang, D. L. Phillips,* Z. X. Guo* “In-situ protonated-phosphorus interstitial doping induces long-lived shallow charge trapping in porous C3-xN4 photocatalyst for highly efficient H2 generation” (2022) Energy Environ. Sci. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/D2EE02680E)

The research paper can be accessed here: https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2023/ee/d2ee02680e

This work was supported by the Hong Kong RGC-EU Collaborative Programme initiative, the HK Environment and Conservation Fund, RGC-GRF, the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province, the Key-Area Research and Development Program of Guangdong Province, the Joint Laboratory Funding Scheme, the “Hong Kong Quantum AI Lab Ltd” funded by the AIR@InnoHK, launched by the Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC), the URC Platform Technology Fund, the start-up support from the University of Hong Kong, and HKU Libraries’ Open Access Author Fund.

Image download and caption: https://www.scifac.hku.hk/press

For media enquiries, please contact Ms Casey To, External Relations Officer (tel: 3917 4948; email: caseyto@hku.hk / Ms Cindy Chan, Assistant Director of Communications of HKU, Faculty of Science (tel: 3917 5286; email: cindycst@hku.hk).

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JOURNAL

Energy

DOI

10.1039/D2EE02680E 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

In situ protonated-phosphorus interstitial doping induces long-lived shallow charge trapping in porous C3−xN4 photocatalysts for highly efficient H2 generation

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

5-Dec-2022

Detrimental secondary health effects after disasters and pandemics

Researchers from Osaka University showed an increase in major non-communicable diseases after the Fukushima disaster and COVID-19 outbreak

Peer-Reviewed Publication

OSAKA UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: FIG. (A) CHANGE IN PREVALENCE OF DISEASES AFTER THE FUKUSHIMA DISASTER (FUKUSHIMA PREFECTURE); (B) CHANGE IN PREVALENCE OF DISEASES AFTER THE COVID-19 OUTBREAK (THE WHOLE OF JAPAN). ERROR BARS REPRESENT 95% UNCERTAINTY INTERVALS. view more 

CREDIT: MICHIO MURAKAMI, SHUHEI NOMURA: ANNUAL PREVALENCE OF NON-COMMUNICABLE DISEASES AND IDENTIFICATION OF VULNERABLE POPULATIONS FOLLOWING THE FUKUSHIMA DISASTER AND COVID-19 PANDEMIC,INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DISASTER RISK REDUCTION,2022,103471, HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.1016/J.IJDRR.2022.103471.

Osaka, Japan - Disasters and pandemics can affect the physical and psychological health of the people involved even after the events have occurred. These effects can include non-communicable chronic diseases. Now, researchers at Osaka University have identified the similarities and differences in secondary health effects in people who have experienced disasters and pandemics.

After the devastating Great East Japan Earthquake and the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station accident in Japan in 2011, non-communicable diseases have increased since that time. In a seven-year follow-up after the Fukushima disaster, a previous study revealed the age-adjusted prevalence of diabetes in both evacuees and non-evacuees significantly increased. Similar concerns existed regarding the COVID-19 pandemic and its potential impact on chronic illnesses. This meant many restrictions were implemented to ensure the safety and health of the people of Japan. To stop the spread of infection, people were encouraged to stay at home and work from home. Perhaps as a result of this, increased body weight among certain populations and mental disorders were observed.

In this study, the changes in the prevalence of diseases in Japan, including hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, and mental disorders, before and after the Fukushima disaster and the COVID-19 pandemic were reviewed using a health insurance dataset over a long period of time. First, the changes in the prevalence of hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, and mental disorders over nine years following the Fukushima disaster were analyzed. Second, the changes in prevalence before and after the COVID-19 pandemic were examined. Results were examined by age and sex to determine the most significantly affected groups.

Results of this study showed that the prevalence of all four diseases increased in Fukushima Prefecture after the Fukushima disaster and in the whole of Japan after the COVID-19 outbreak as well. The increased rates of hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, and mental disorders were higher in females aged 40-74 years after the Fukushima disaster. However, after the COVID-19 outbreak, the increase in prevalence rates of all four diseases was higher among males aged 0-39 years.

“This study has shed some light on identifying the vulnerable populations involved and assessing the secondary effect of disasters on the mental and physical health of these people” says lead author, Michio Murakami.

The importance of supporting secondary health effects after disasters and pandemics are now being recognized and can lead to improved post-disaster policies and recommendations that focus on health promotion and effective prevention strategies.

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The article, “Annual prevalence of non-communicable diseases and identification of vulnerable populations following the Fukushima disaster and COVID-19 pandemic,” was published in the International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction at DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2022.103471

About Osaka University

Osaka University was founded in 1931 as one of the seven imperial universities of Japan and is now one of Japan's leading comprehensive universities with a broad disciplinary spectrum. This strength is coupled with a singular drive for innovation that extends throughout the scientific process, from fundamental research to the creation of applied technology with positive economic impacts. Its commitment to innovation has been recognized in Japan and around the world, being named Japan's most innovative university in 2015 (Reuters 2015 Top 100) and one of the most innovative institutions in the world in 2017 (Innovative Universities and the Nature Index Innovation 2017). Now, Osaka University is leveraging its role as a Designated National University Corporation selected by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology to contribute to innovation for human welfare, sustainable development of society, and social transformation.

Website: https://resou.osaka-u.ac.jp/en

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JOURNAL

International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction

DOI

10.1016/j.ijdrr.2022.103471 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Annual prevalence of non-communicable diseases and identification of vulnerable populations following the Fukushima disaster and COVID-19 pandemic

Scientists release UK roadmap for managing key ingredient behind all the food we eat

As phosphate fertiliser prices remain at very high levels after spiking this year, scientists are calling for urgent measures to manage phosphorus, a vital element essential for food production.

Reports and Proceedings

LANCASTER UNIVERSITY

As phosphate fertiliser prices remain at very high levels after spiking this year, scientists are calling for urgent measures to manage phosphorus, a vital element essential for food production, but which is also behind environmental pollution in our rivers and lakes.

 

In launching the UK’s first comprehensive national transformation strategy into phosphorus, researchers say they are providing a roadmap for how the nation can better manage this important resource.

 

The strategy outlines a pressing need for new solutions and scaling-up of existing phosphorus innovations to prevent future damage to aquatic biodiversity and habitat, reduce reliance on risky import markets and to unlock new opportunities for agriculture.

 

Phosphorus is a lynchpin of our food system – plants cannot grow without it and has no substitute.

 

Crop and livestock production in the UK is almost entirely dependent on imported phosphorus in feeds and fertilisers – the UK imports around 174,000 tonnes of phosphorus annually.  Much of these imports derive from phosphate rock from countries including Russia, Morocco and China. The price of phosphate fertiliser quadroupled between mid 2020 and mid 2022 due to supply disruptions and market concentration in China. The ongoing war in Ukraine is serving to highlight the food security risks associated with reliance on imports of critical farm inputs like phosphorus.

 

Despite volatile prices and supply disruptions, phosphorus use in the UK is still highly inefficient, with less than half of imported phosphorus used productively to grow food. Mismanagement of phosphorus over decades has led to it being a major contributor to environmental problems. Wastewater discharges, along with excess phosphorus accumulating in agricultural soils and leaching into our rivers, lakes and other waterways, are contributing to issues such as algal blooms.

 

The ‘UK Phosphorus Transformation Strategy’ – a major output from the RePhoKUs project, led by Lancaster University and involving the University of Technology Sydney, University of Leeds, AFBI, UK CEH and funded under the UK’s Global Food Security research programme – sets out the challenges and key steps needed for the UK to adopt resilient, efficient and sustainable management of phosphorus.

 

Professor Paul Withers, of Lancaster University and lead investigator of the RePhoKUs project, said: “At present the UK does not have a coherent plan for managing phosphorus across the food system, either nationally, regionally or within catchments. This needs to change urgently.

 

“Transforming the way phosphorus is used in the UK food system is essential. Getting it right provides huge benefits to food and water security, tourism opportunities, and to maintain a clean healthy environment to boost biodiversity and the natural world for generations to come – but it requires all sectors to come on board.”

 

The strategy’s recommendations, co-developed with national stakeholders through extensive consultation with farmers, regulators, policy-makers, food producers, wastewater companies, and environmental managers, highlight a number of priorities to enable the UK to transition towards using phosphorus more sustainably:

 

• Develop and deploy at scale new technologies and innovations that can recover phosphorus from animal manure, wastewater and food waste, and redistribute as viable, cost-effective and renewable fertilisers.
• Provide incentives that encourage investment in technologies and lower barriers to create new markets for a renewable phosphorus fertiliser sector.
• Improve, align and make coherent policies and governance that recognise and manage phosphorus as a scare resource, as well as a pollutant.
• Provide tailored knowledge, research and advice for farmers on tapping soil legacy phosphorus, and using recycled phosphorus.
• Better engage stakeholders across the whole phosphorus value chain to set strategic direction and support implementation via bespoke and diverse local phosphorus solutions.
• The creation of nutrient stakeholder platform and UK nutrient data sharing dashboards to help inform phosphorus management

 

Aside from the phosphorus sources in wastewater treatment plants servicing towns and cities, the report highlights that phosphorus is unevenly concentrated across the UK. Where livestock farming is most intensive, predominantly in the west of England and Northern Ireland, then surpluses of phosphorus (largely in manure) are higher. The excess phosphorus applied in England’s North West region alone is equivalent to nearly £30 million of fertiliser.

 

In areas where arable crops are grown, which tends to be predominantly in the east of the country, there is a deficit and the need to use phosphorus-based fertilisers because crops are taking up more than is applied.

 

However, the logistics of moving bulky manure from one part of the country to another are impractical. Finding new innovative ways to extract and relocate phosphorus from manure will be key in addressing these regional imbalances.

 

There is currently billions of pounds of phosphorus locked in UK top soil from decades of applications of fertiliser and manure – accessing and managing this legacy phosphorus ‘bank’ is central to improving efficiency and reducing imports, the team of scientists behind the new strategy argue.

 

One of the report’s lead authors, Associate Professor Brent Jacobs said: “The good news is there are many pockets of innovation and initiatives already under way in different sectors in the UK. These can be learned from, scaled-up and integrated to help overcome some of the challenges associated with phosphorus use.

 

“Theoretically there is enough phosphorus circulating in the food system and in our soils. One of the pathways to achieving sustainable phosphorus use will involve developing and deploying new technologies that can extract legacy phosphorus from soils and manures and develop new renewable fertiliser markets.”

 

The authors highlight the need for all of the different actors and sectors involved in food production, across catchment areas and government departments, which are currently operating in a fragmented manner, to work more closely and to adopt innovative solutions to transition towards using phosphorus more sustainably.

 

Professor Julia Martin-Ortega of the University of Leeds and co-author of the report said: “As the UK food system is undergoing fundamental policy change, our report provides a timely opportunity to integrate urgently needed actions across all sectors of the food chain into regional and national policy and governance, tapping into huge potential wins for the environment and the economy.”

 

For the full UK Phosphorus Transformation Strategy report please visit: http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/rephokus/publications/

 

The report was produced as part of the RePhoKUs project (The role of phosphorus in the sustainability and resilience of the UK food system) funded by BBSRC, ESRC, NERC, and the Scottish Government under the UK Global Food Security research programme (Grant No. BB/R005842/1).