World’s longest-winged birds go easy on older partners

Wandering albatrosses with older partners spend less time on foraging trips than those with more sprightly partners

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL

 

IMAGE: TWO WANDERING ALBATROSSES view more 

CREDIT: SAMANTHA PATRICK, UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL

A new study led by the University of Liverpool has found that wandering albatrosses with older partners spend less time on foraging trips than those with more sprightly partners so that their mate has a shorter wait without food. 

These enormous birds hold the record for the world’s longest wingspan (3 meters on average) and can reach 50 years of age. Found gliding above the southern Indian and Antarctic Oceans, wandering albatrosses generally mate for life, breeding with the same partner every two years.  

After the female lays her single egg, the prospective parents embark on one of the longest incubation periods amongst birds. They spend the next 78 days taking it in turns to incubate, while their mate goes to sea to feed.  

These feeding trips last for around 12 days on average, during which time the nest-bound parent must stay put without food. This can have significant negative impacts on their body condition, which get worse the longer their partner is away. 

In a study published in the journal Ecology and Evolution, researchers analysed data from the foraging trips of 71 pairs nesting in the remote Crozet Archipelago in the southern Indian Ocean. 

The data, collected from small devices fitted to the legs of wandering albatrosses, enabled the team to measure the amount of time they spent at sea. This revealed that birds mated to older partners took shorter feeding trips and so returned to the nest sooner than those with younger partners.  

The researchers think this might be because the birds are able to assess how long their partner can go without food. As older birds may struggle to withstand the pressure of a long fast, their partners choose to relieve them sooner. This ultimately benefits both parents, who rely on one another to rear their young. 

Lead paper author of the paper and PhD student in the University’s School of Environmental Sciences, Finn McCully said: “On paper, this behaviour looks very caring: one parent gives up feeding time to help protect the other. In reality, this behaviour benefits both parents. Albatrosses cannot be single parents; the conditions are too harsh. If one parent runs the other one ragged by making them do too much work, they will lose the chick which is disastrous for both partners. 

“Our findings suggest that the birds have a way of telling how much pressure their partner is able to take. This familiarity may develop over the years they spend breeding together, as they get to know each other’s limits, but more research is required to test this theory. 

“So if you are a wandering albatross and your partner is that little bit older and less able to recover from a long fast, it’s in your best interests to take extra steps to help keep them fighting fit”.    

Although previous work has indicated that wandering albatrosses adjust their own foraging behaviour as they get older, this is the first study to suggest that their partner’s age might also be important. 

Finn McCully added: “We thought that birds would care more about their own age than that of their partner when making decisions, so these results were truly unexpected. 

Our results just go to show how complicated the lives of animals can be and how nature is full of surprises!” 

Wandering albatrosses in this population have been actively studied since 1966. Threats, particularly that of being caught in fishing gear, caused their numbers to decline steeply in the 1970s leading to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) labelling this species as ‘vulnerable’.   

The research was led by researchers from the Seabird Ecology Group at the University of Liverpool in collaboration with scientists from Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, the University of Sheffield and Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle. 

The paper ` Partner intrinsic characteristics influence foraging trip duration, but not coordination of care in wandering albatrosses Diomedea exulans’  (doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9621) is published in the journal Ecology and Evolution.  

---

JOURNAL

Ecology and Evolution

DOI

10.1002/ece3.9621 

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Partner intrinsic characteristics influence foraging trip duration, but not coordination of care in wandering albatrosses Diomedea exulans

Find the meaning in standing up and do it more often to improve health, finds study

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF SURREY

Sitting is the default state in many people's day-to-day lives, with significant health implications – but a smartwatch simply ordering people to stand will not make much difference to their behaviour or health, say researchers from the University of Surrey.  

The comments come as the Surrey research team publish a study into ways people can reduce long periods of sitting and not moving. 

The study recommends moving away from time-restricted solutions to tackle sitting and focusing more on increasing the frequency of situations where people transition from sitting down to standing up. 

Dr Benjamin Gardner, co-author of the study from the University of Surrey, said:  

"A smart device simply telling someone to stand up is not going to help to build strong and lasting habits that encourage people to sit less. The real trick is finding reasons to transition from sitting and standing and vice-versa more often. In the office environment, it could mean going for refreshments with a colleague or instituting standing-up meetings. 

"Our study argues that we must construct strategies that make the reasons why people transition from sit-stand more meaningful and find ways to do those behaviours as often as practically possible." 

People in Western countries sit for an average of between eight to 11 hours. High levels of sedentary (sitting) behaviour are associated with severe physical and mental health problems, such as declined cognitive function, cardiovascular disease, and all-cause mortality. 

The study has been published by Health Psychology Review. 

---

JOURNAL

Health Psychology Review

DOI

10.1080/17437199.2022.2143851 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Literature review

ARTICLE TITLE

Why do people sit? A framework for targeted behavior change

At Mauna Loa, University of South Florida team’s innovative research helps predict lava flow

Data collection uses a rare, ground-based instrument to pinpoint where and how quickly the landscape is changing

Reports and Proceedings

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

 

IMAGE: UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA SCIENTISTS MAHSA AFRA (LEFT) AND TAHA SADEGHI CHORSISET SET UP AN INSTRUMENT THAT USES RADAR TO MEASURE THE FLOW OF VOLCANIC LAVA AT MAUNA LOA IN HAWAII. view more 

CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

Images and video: https://usf.app.box.com/s/9gojapq3j6zrcej1t9rbs2h2z1529rq3

Note: Interviews are available with members of the research team currently on the ground in Hawaii.

TAMPA, Fla. (Dec. 20, 2022) – A team from the University of South Florida is on the ground in Hawaii studying Mauna Loa, the largest active volcano in the world, to improve efforts that can help protect residents from lava flow. While slow-moving, lava averages 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit and destroys everything in its path.

The team is collecting data that will be used to create models that can help improve lava flow forecasting tools that are useful in determining how hazards impact populations. One such tool, known as MOLASSES, is a simulation engine that forecasts inundation areas of lava flow.

MOLASSES was created by USF geosciences Professor Chuck Connor, who says using the radar to gather data is essential in understanding volcano topography and improving the lava flow models.

“We want to make hazard maps that help people understand where they live and what the risks are,” Connor said. “We can’t stop a volcano from erupting, but we can give people warning about the lava flow.”

Shortly after Mauna Loa’s eruption in late November – the first since 1984 – USF geosciences Professor Tim Dixon sent two graduate students, Taha Chorsi and Mahsa Afra, to Hawaii with a Terrestrial Radar Interferometer, a rare, ground-based instrument that measures where the landscape is changing and how quickly those changes are occurring.

Chorsi and Afra delivered the radar to USF alumna Lis Gallant, a National Science Foundation postdoctoral research fellow at the United States Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

Using the radar, the USF scientists were able to capture the thickening of Mauna Loa’s lava flows. The novelty of the ground-based instrument is its ability to measure the lava’s surface and create a three-dimensional map within a span of minutes.

“A lot of volcano science happens in hostile terrains,” Gallant said. “This radar is a particularly powerful instrument because it can see through moisture, and now, we can definitely say it would be well-suited in areas where visibility is poor and to immediately help hazard response.”

The team will review this data over the next several months to determine where the Mauna Loa lava flow was moving and the velocities of those movements. The data can be used to better understand how lava flows move and advance, which in turn can be used by scientists to improve tools used to forecast lava flow hazards through models. 

Dixon has had great success using the radar to monitor Earth movements in glaciers, landslides, earthquakes and volcanoes. Many of his students, including Chorsi and Afra, have worked alongside him over the years to learn the radar and develop a user manual.

“There’s probably only a hundred people in the world who can successfully use this instrument,” Dixon said.

About the University of South Florida

The University of South Florida, a high-impact global research university dedicated to student success, generates an annual economic impact of more than $6 billion. Over the past 10 years, no other public university in the country has risen faster in U.S. News and World Report’s national university rankings than USF. Serving more than 50,000 students on campuses in Tampa, St. Petersburg and Sarasota-Manatee, USF is designated as a Preeminent State Research University by the Florida Board of Governors, placing it in the most elite category among the state’s 12 public universities. USF has earned widespread national recognition for its success graduating under-represented minority and limited-income students at rates equal to or higher than white and higher income students. USF is a member of the American Athletic Conference. Learn more at www.usf.edu.

---

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

Heat and cold as health hazards

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF INNSBRUCK

Both hot and cold environments trigger a stress response in the human body and can lead to cardiovascular problems. Physiologist Justin Lawley from the Department of Sport Science at the University of Innsbruck and colleagues have recently investigated both factors in scientific studies. The results, which were published in the Journals Scientific Reports and Experimental Physiology, are especially interesting in light of the current multiple global crises.

The climate and energy crises are currently among the greatest challenges of our time and are having a direct physical effect on people's health. For example, the climate crisis is causing more frequent, longer and more intense heat waves, which are responsible for more deaths than natural disasters. Moreover, the energy crisis is causing a rise in energy costs and forcing many households to heat their homes less often or not at all.

The physiological responses to a simulated heat wave and cold ambient temperatures have now been investigated by Justin Lawley, together with his research group, the Laboratory of Exercise and Environmental Physiology, and international scientists in two studies – the focus was on the cardiovascular system. "In both studies, we replicated real-world environmental temperatures the body might be exposed to and were able to show physiological responses that could help explain known seasonal variations in cardiovascular deaths," explains Lawley.

Heat study

As part of the Horizon 2020 Heat Shield project, Lawley’s group collaborated with colleagues from Slovenia to examine how heat waves affect the health of industrial workers. Seven male participants spent nine consecutive regular workdays in a controlled laboratory setting.

On the first and last three days, normal summer temperatures for Central European conditions ranged from 25.1 to 25.7 degrees during work and 21.8 to 22.8 degrees during rest periods. Days four through six represented the heat wave; during this period, researchers created ambient temperatures between 35.2 and 35.8 degrees during work periods and 25.5 to 27.1 degrees during rest periods including while sleeping at night. During the entire study, participants completed daily tasks to simulate typical industrial work.

"We used a protocol in this study that simulates current heat wave conditions in combination with orthostatic stress, which means changing posture, to determine cardiovascular and thermoregulatory stress in industrial workers," Lawley describes. The results show that even relatively mild heat waves cause an increase in core and skin temperatures and an increase in skin blood flow. While these physiological reactions help the body from overheating at rest, during standing the body must now defend both internal temperature and maintain blood pressure to prevent fainting, which puts an extra strain on the cardiovascular system.

Interestingly, many of these responses persisted after the heat wave was over, suggesting a residual effect of the heat wave. "These responses reflect the stress on the cardiovascular system that industrial workers face during heat waves, which can lead to heat illness, fainting and even potentially death due to accidents or serious medical complications in persons with underlying cardiovascular disease," Lawley points out.

Cold study

In another study, Lawley, along with a team of eleven researchers, examined the impact of mild cold exposure on the cardiovascular system, with a specific focus on what mechanisms are responsible for the increase in blood pressure. In addition to researchers from Innsbruck, scientists from Great Britain and Canada were also involved.

Since preventing a rise in blood pressure in the cold is important, the study aimed to examine if the rise in vessel resistance (i.e. vasoconstriction) is due to a change in blood flow in the skeletal muscles or simply the skin. In a laboratory at the Department of Sport Science at the University of Innsbruck, the researchers cooled the skin temperature of 34 test subjects from a normal 32 to 34 degrees to about 27 degrees with ten degrees cold air – on one occasion the entire body was cooled, on another only the face was cooled.

"We observed that when the entire surface of the body is cooled, blood pressure increases mainly due to an increase in vascular resistance of the skin, although there was also a slight reflex increase in resistance of the blood vessels inside the skeletal muscle. However, importantly, when only the face was cooled, we saw a very similar increase in blood pressure that was due to a reflex increase in vascular resistance of the skin throughout the whole body," Lawley describes.

Thus, the team was able to show that the mechanism(s) responsible for the rise in blood pressure during cold exposure depends on which parts of the body are cold. These data are important to educate the population about preventing the potential negative consequences of cold exposure because contrary to the perception of many, cold is even more dangerous to the body than heat.

"It doesn't take sub-zero temperatures – as you might think – to cause serious reactions in the body, which will become common for many people unable to heat their homes during the energy crisis. While people typically know to wear warm clothing to protect the skin of their body, arms and legs, we were able to show that protecting the face is equally important even in a mild ambient temperature of ten degrees," Lawley continues.

Extreme effects

Both studies show that climatic conditions can have extreme effects on our cardiovascular system. While negative health aspects triggered by heat waves will increase due to the climate crisis, it is particularly surprising that even cold temperatures around 10 degrees can have significant negative effects on our cardiovascular system even in young people who were part of these studies. Future studies extending these findings to our ageing population and those with pre-existing medical conditions will certainly help mitigate the risk of these new environmental challenges.

---

JOURNAL

Scientific Reports

DOI

10.1038/s41598-022-24216-3 

ARTICLE TITLE

Cardiovascular responses to orthostasis during a simulated 3-day heatwave

Using drones to monitor volcanoes: Researchers analyze volcanic gases with the help of ultra-lightweight sensor systems

Composition of gases emitted by volcanoes can provide information on the possibility of imminent eruptions / Lightweight drones make investigation possible even in areas that are difficult to access

Peer-Reviewed Publication

JOHANNES GUTENBERG UNIVERSITAET MAINZ

 

IMAGE: THE RESEARCH DRONE IN ACTION ON THE ISLAND OF VULCANO AT THE SOUTHERN BOUNDARY OF THE AEOLIAN ISLANDS view more 

CREDIT: PHOTO/©: HOFFMANN GROUP

The main gases released by volcanoes are water vapor, carbon dioxide, and sulfur dioxide. Analyzing these gases is one of the best ways of obtaining information on volcanic systems and the magmatic processes that are underway. The ratio of carbon dioxide levels to those of sulfur dioxide can even reveal the likelihood of an impending eruption. Drones are employed to carry the necessary analytical systems to the site of activity. However, because of their size, transporting the drones to their operation sites has to date required significant expense. A team headed by Professor Thorsten Hoffmann at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) has recently been assessing the potential for using a small, portable observation drone in remote regions. This very compact drone system can even be conveyed on foot to sites that are extremely difficult to access. In addition, it requires only minimal flight and administrative preparations for operation as an aerial observation platform.

Eruptions can be predicted on the basis of volcanic outgassing

Gas discharges from volcanoes mainly consist of water vapor, carbon dioxide, and sulfur dioxide. Released gas emissions are among the few chemical signals that provide evidence of the processes occurring in magmatic systems that are located deep below the surface and are thus otherwise inaccessible. For some time already, researchers have assumed that the analysis of such volatile emissions could play a central role in improving the prediction of volcanic eruptions. A particularly promising parameter when it comes to the surveillance of changes to volcanic activity is the ratio of concentration of carbon dioxide to sulfur dioxide in the released gases. In fact, alterations to this ratio have been observed immediately prior to eruptions of several volcanoes, among which was Etna. Unfortunately, the practical side of compiling a continuous time series of gas compositions represents a major challenge. Direct manual sampling by means of climbing the volcano is arduous and time-consuming, not to mention the potential dangers should an eruption suddenly occur. On the other hand, stationary monitoring equipment often does not record representative data on gas compositions, mainly due to changing wind directions.

Measurement drones can overcome these problems and have already been used to measure the chemical characteristics of volcanic gases. In particular, the risk to volcanologists of being endangered by sudden changes in volcanic activity is significantly reduced by the greater distances involved. Moreover, drones make it possible to reach emission sources that are otherwise difficult or even impossible to access, such as fumaroles in steep, slippery terrain or older parts of the plume that are typically located in downwind areas and at higher altitudes. Only larger drones have so far been employed for the monitoring of volcanoes and, of course, this has proved problematic in view of the remoteness of the regions in which most volcanoes are to be found. "It is for this reason that small, easily transportable drones are an essential prerequisite if we want to get to isolated or difficult-to-access volcanic sites and suitably track the activity there," said Niklas Karbach, lead author of the corresponding paper that has recently been published in Scientific Reports.

Niklas Karbach taking test measurements in a fumarole field (Vulcano, Italian Aeolian Island

The Little-RAVEN observation drone during a test flight in Mainz

CREDIT

photo/©: Hoffmann group

Small drone system that can be carried in a backpack

In collaboration with volcanologist Dr. Nicole Bobrowski of Heidelberg University and the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) in Catania, the Mainz-based research team has been trialing a tiny commercial drone weighing less than 900 grams equipped with miniaturized, lightweight sensors. This combination that weighs no more than a bottle of mineral water could be transported easily to the scene in a backpack. But it is not just the weight of the drone that is crucial. "We need to obtain real-time data on sulfur dioxide levels as this lets us know when we are actually in contact with the volcanic plume, something that readily moves over time in response to atmospheric factors. The localization of a plume by visual means alone from a distance of several kilometers is practically impossible," added Professor Hoffmann, head of the JGU group.

The project is receiving financial support from TeMaS – Terrestrial Magmatic Systems, one of eight High-potential Research Areas at JGU. The aim of TeMaS, which is a collaboration of researchers from Mainz, Frankfurt, Heidelberg and Munich, is to understand the connections between the magmatic processes in the Earth's mantle and the atmosphere by combining the expertise from disciplines as diverse as experimental petrology and atmospheric chemistry.

 

Related links:
https://www.blogs.uni-mainz.de/fb09-ac-hoffmann-eng/ – Research group of Professor Thorsten Hoffmann at the JGU Department of Chemistry

 

Read more:
https://www.uni-mainz.de/presse/aktuell/16698_ENG_HTML.php – press release "Climate whiplash increased wildfires on California's west coast about 8,000 years ago" (8 Dec. 2022) ; 
https://www.uni-mainz.de/presse/aktuell/16446_ENG_HTML.php – press release "Iodine accelerates formation of cloud condensation nuclei in the atmosphere" (2 Nov. 2022) ;
https://www.uni-mainz.de/presse/aktuell/11991_ENG_HTML.php – press release "Reversed ratio of chiral volatile organic compounds over the Amazon rainforest reveal insects as unexplored important source of forest emissions" (27 Aug. 2020) ; 
https://www.uni-mainz.de/presse/aktuell/10593_ENG_HTML.php – press release "Scientists at Mainz University study ice cores as a climate archive" (20 Dec. 2019) ;
https://www.uni-mainz.de/presse/aktuell/9337_ENG_HTML.php – press release "Reinhart Koselleck Project funding for research into the growth of atmospheric nanoparticles" (1 Oct. 2019) ;
https://www.uni-mainz.de/presse/15768_ENG_HTML.php – press release "International research group shows that the aging of organic aerosols is caused by OH radicals" (5 Oct. 2012)

---

JOURNAL

Scientific Reports

DOI

10.1038/s41598-022-21935-5 

ARTICLE TITLE

Observing volcanoes with drones: studies of volcanic plume chemistry with ultralight sensor systems 

Mothers’ alcohol use changed during the COVID-19 pandemic

Ohio study: Less frequent drinking, but more drinks per day

Peer-Reviewed Publication

OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Mothers drank alcohol less frequently as the COVID-19 pandemic progressed, according to a small study of Ohio women, but another result was more concerning to researchers.

 

Findings showed that the number of drinks per day increased for moms later in the pandemic, raising concerns that mothers may have been more likely to binge when they did drink.

 

“The COVID-19 pandemic was especially stressful for parents, as they juggled working from home and taking care of their children,” said Bridget Freisthler, co-author of the study and professor of social work at The Ohio State University.

 

“Our study gives a glimpse on how some mothers used alcohol to cope as the pandemic went on.”

 

Freisthler conducted the study with Jennifer Price Wolf, associate professor of social work at San Jose State University.  Their study was published recently in the journal Alcohol and Alcoholism.

 

The researchers recruited 266 mothers in central Ohio for a study on parenting during April-May 2020 when Ohio was under stay-at-home orders for the pandemic.  Participants, who all had children between 2 and 12 years of age, were recruited via social media and word-of-mouth, so it was not a random sample.

 

Most of the sample consisted of white, well-educated and married women.

 

The mothers participated in three waves of the study: the first in spring 2020 and again at about the same time in 2021 and 2022.

 

Overall, 77.8% of the mothers reported alcohol use over all three waves of the study.

 

This study doesn’t have data from before COVID-19, but previous work showed that alcohol use increased among women after the start of the pandemic.

 

In addition, other research finds that drinking among women has been increasing over the last two decades, especially among white women and the highly educated, Freisthler said.

Results of this new study showed that, among women who used alcohol, participants drank on an average of 9.2 days of the previous 28 days at the start of the stay-at-home orders in 2022.

 

Drinking frequency dropped to 6.95 days in 2021 and stayed about the same in 2022.

 

Total drinking volume also decreased from 2020 to the final two years of the study.

 

However, the average number of drinks per day increased from 1.47 in 2020 to 1.65 in 2021 and stayed steady at 1.61 in 2022.

 

“We did not expect to see the number of drinks per day to go up over the course of the pandemic, even as they drank less frequently,” Freisthler said.

 

The study can’t say why the changes in alcohol use occurred over the course of the pandemic.

 

But Freisthler said the results are troubling, particularly considering the trends of increased drinking among women even before the pandemic began.

 

“We had alcohol use already going up, and then we have this pandemic that added enforced confinement and social isolation to the already difficult job of parenting,” she said.

 

“It’s not surprising that some mothers may have used alcohol to help them cope, but we know that binge drinking especially can have bad effects on parenting.”

 

The study was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

---

JOURNAL

Alcohol and Alcoholism

DOI

10.1093/alcalc/agac064 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Longitudinal Changes in Self-Reported Alcohol Consumption by Mothers’ During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Blood donation samples can be used to monitor progress of epidemics, study shows

A group of researchers in Brazil and the UK have developed a method to track seroprevalence in real time

Peer-Reviewed Publication

FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO

An article published in the journal eLife reports a study in which researchers concluded that the proportion of the population previously infected by SARS-CoV-2 (infection-induced seroprevalence) can be estimated using blood donation samples. The findings offer a sort of “portrait” of the first year of the COVID-19 epidemic in Brazil. According to the authors, their novel methodology can also be used to track and estimate collective immunity to other infectious diseases.

The usual method of estimating seroprevalence in Brazil is based on random samples of the population. The authors note that this method is costly and hard to perform periodically in real time. Serosurveillance is important to understand the characteristics of epidemics and formulate public policy, by detecting where prevention and treatment are effective, for example.

The principal authors are affiliated with the Brazil-UK Center for Arbovirus Discovery, Diagnosis, Genomics & Epidemiology (CADDE). They tested 97,950 blood donation samples for immunoglobin G (IgG) antibodies. The samples were collected in Brazil’s eight most populous state capitals: Belo Horizonte, Curitiba, Fortaleza, Manaus, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and São Paulo. The study period ran from March 2020 to March 2021.

The results showed that the COVID-19 epidemic spread unevenly, affecting the populations of these cities at different times. Seroprevalence was generally highest among men and younger people.

“Early on, some lines of investigation assumed everyone was infected at the same time, but we showed this wasn’t the case. In terms of a portrait of the epidemic, we concluded that it was extremely heterogeneous in Brazil, with different levels of infection between groups and significant variation in lethality rates. We hadn’t expected this result,” Carlos Augusto Prete Junior, first author of the article, told Agência FAPESP. 

Prete Junior is a researcher at the University of São Paulo’s Engineering School (POLI-USP). The study was part of his PhD research. His thesis advisors are Vitor Heloiz Nascimento, a professor at POLI-USP, and Ester Sabino, a professor at the university’s medical school (FM-USP) and a principal investigator at CADDE. Nascimento and Sabino are the last authors of the article.

The study was supported by FAPESP via CADDE and a scholarship awarded to Prete Junior. It also received funding from Instituto Todos pela Saúde (“All for Health”, an initiative led by Itaú, Brazil’s largest private-sector bank). The other authors are scientists at Imperial College London and Oxford University in the United Kingdom.

In another recent article published in Vaccines, the group analyzed blood donation samples to show that their method could be used to predict the arrival in Brazil of the delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 (first detected in India in 2020 and originally named B.1.617.2). They conducted anti-spike protein microparticle assays to measure levels of IgG antibodies, which bind to the virus’s S (spike) protein and prevent it from infecting cells. They found correlations between the protection afforded by the vaccine, case numbers and the mortality rate due to the delta variant (read more at: agencia.fapesp.br/39629). 

Methodology

The COVID-19 epidemic in Brazil was one of the severest worldwide, with 35.4 million cases and 690,000 deaths recorded up to early December 2022. However, these numbers do not reveal the significant differences among regions and subgroups of the population, or the proportion previously infected by the novel coronavirus. Estimating this proportion is important to help forecast the impact of future waves caused by novel variants of the virus.

In the study, as well as estimating the attack rate or seroprevalence of the disease over time for the eight cities using blood donation samples, with a breakdown by gender and age, the researchers also estimated the age-specific infection fatality rate (IFR) and infection hospitalization rate for each city.

The researchers had 1,000 samples tested per city per month. To make sure the samples were representative, they were selected so that the location of the donors’ homes matched the spatial distribution of the population in the areas concerned.

By law, blood donations are saved for six months in Brazil, and the researchers were therefore able to select and test samples frozen between February (before the start of the pandemic in Brazil) and July 2020. After this period, samples were selected and tested in real time. 

IgG antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid (N) were detected by chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay because this was the only automated kit commercially available in Brazil when the study started (July 2020). However, this type of test may suffer a loss of sensitivity over time due to waning antibody levels, and the declining proportion of individuals with positive test results may have increasingly led the true attack rate to be underestimated as the epidemic progressed.

To correct for this loss of antibody detectability due to weakening of the immune system or waning antibody concentration over time (seroreversion), the researchers developed a Bayesian model using data for repeat blood donors (people who give blood several times a year) and a cohort of non-hospitalized symptomatic convalescent plasma donors who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 by PCR within 60 days after symptom onset.

“Inclusion of repeat donors was important because some studies done early in the pandemic corrected for seroreversion only using plasma donors. We showed that repeat donors were more representative of the population in each city,” Prete Junior said.

He noted that this model did not feature in the paper by the same group published in Science in December 2020, with information from the Manaus blood bank, because the data available at the time was insufficient. In that study, which was led by Sabino, they estimated that 76% of the city’s population had immunity against the virus, but this was before the arrival of other variants such as gamma, later considered more aggressive and lethal (read more at: agencia.fapesp.br/35011). 

“Shortly after the paper was published, there was a second wave of COVID-19 in Brazil. At the time, many people thought there wouldn’t be reinfection. We’ve now confirmed that blood donation samples can be used to estimate seroprevalence for the purpose of monitoring other diseases, provided certain adjustments are made, such as correcting for seroreversion and estimating the attack rate for each group by age and gender using spatially representative samples,” Prete Junior said.

The results showed that the attack rate in December 2020, before the gamma variant become predominant, ranged from 19.3% in Curitiba to 75% in Manaus. Seroprevalence was consistently lower among women and donors over 55 years of age.

Cities with higher levels of seroprevalence also had higher mortality rates (deaths per 1,000 inhabitants). Between March 1, 2020, and March 31, 2021, the age-standardized mortality rates varied from 1.7 in Belo Horizonte to 5.3 in Manaus, where mortality was twice that of Fortaleza, the city with the second highest mortality rate among those analyzed.

The infection fatality rate (IFR) also varied among the cities, ranging from 0.24% in Manaus to 0.54% in Curitiba, and the age-specific IFR rose consistently with age. 

The researchers estimated IFR using total deaths due to severe acute respiratory infection (SARI), including PCR- and clinically confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection as well as SARI deaths without a final diagnosis, and excluded SARI deaths confirmed to have been caused by other diseases. This approach corrected the effect of under-reporting, particularly in 2020 when testing was not widely available.

Manaus

The gamma variant (P.1) was detected in November 2020, and its prevalence increased rapidly, reaching 87% on January 4, 2021, with a high proportion of reinfections, and for this reason, the IFR and the attack rate were estimated separately for the second wave in Manaus when gamma was dominant.

The study showed that the proportion of Manaus’s population infected in the second wave was 37.5%, compared with 75% in the first wave. The infection hospitalization rate rose during the second wave in the city, suggesting increased severity of the disease caused by gamma compared with previous variants.

Increased penetration of COVID-19 and the inability of the Manaus health system to cope with the influx of cases led the IFR associated with gamma to reach a level at least 2.91 times higher than in the first wave.

About São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP)

The São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) is a public institution with the mission of supporting scientific research in all fields of knowledge by awarding scholarships, fellowships and grants to investigators linked with higher education and research institutions in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. FAPESP is aware that the very best research can only be done by working with the best researchers internationally. Therefore, it has established partnerships with funding agencies, higher education, private companies, and research organizations in other countries known for the quality of their research and has been encouraging scientists funded by its grants to further develop their international collaboration. You can learn more about FAPESP at www.fapesp.br/en and visit FAPESP news agency at www.agencia.fapesp.br/en to keep updated with the latest scientific breakthroughs FAPESP helps achieve through its many programs, awards and research centers. You may also subscribe to FAPESP news agency at http://agencia.fapesp.br/subscribe

---

JOURNAL

eLife

DOI

10.7554/eLife.78233 

ARTICLE TITLE

SARS-CoV-2 antibody dynamics in blood donors and COVID-19 epidemiology in eight Brazilian state capitals: A serial cross-sectional study

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

Feeling too busy or stressed? ‘Tis the season to prioritize self-care

Peer-Reviewed Publication

INDIANA UNIVERSITY

Bloomington, Indiana – If you’re feeling especially busy this holiday season, new research shows now is the time to take a moment for yourself.

The study from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business shows that when consumers are the most stressed, is when they benefit the most from taking the time to “self-gift.”

“Self-gifting,” or the process of engaging with a product or experience with the primary goal of boosting one’s emotional well-being, does not have to be overindulgent. It can be anything from drinking tea, to listening to music, to watching a relaxing YouTube video: anything you can do with a focus on yourself.

“There are so many ads reminding us to take a moment for ourselves, for self-care, but we find that people are least likely to engage in this kind of behavior when they need it most,” said Kelley Gullo Wight, assistant professor of marketing at the Kelley School. “There’s this moment of self-sabotage. People who feel the most constrained or stressed aren’t taking advantage of these self-gifts. You might think, I’ll be too distracted, or I won’t be able to have a mindful moment to benefit, but our research shows this belief is wrong. People are able to benefit and focus even if they’re stressed. In fact, that exactly when you need it the most. Taking the time to ‘self-gift’ will lead you to feel less stressed in the long run.”

Wight and her co-authors, Jacqueline R. Rifkin, assistant professor at the Samuel Curtis Johnson College of Business at Cornell University, and Keisha M. Cutright, associate professor at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, used behavioral experiments to consider why people wouldn’t take advantage of “self-gifting” experiences, and when it would most benefit them.

They found people who felt pressed for time were least likely to engage in self-gifting, but they were the ones who experienced the most significant boosts in how happy and relaxed they felt afterwards.

For marketers, researchers suggest they encourage consumers to “self-gift” by framing the product or experience as beneficial especially during stressful times.

“This holiday season, if you’re focusing on everyone else, you’ve got people coming into town, and absolutely no time for yourself, take two minutes,” said Wight. “You may tend to want to wait for self-care until the stressor is over, but our research shows you’ll benefit most by taking a minute for yourself anyways. That’s when you should be looking out for you.”

---

JOURNAL

Journal of Consumer Research

DOI

10.1093/jcr/ucac053 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

No Bandwidth to Self-Gift: How Feeling Constrained Discourages Self-Gifting