Elevated design keeps solar stills salt-free

Peer-Reviewed Publication

KING ABDULLAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY (KAUST)

 

VIDEO: LEARN HOW KAUST RESEARCHERS ARE INVENTING FRESH WAYS TO DESALINATE SEAWATER. view more 

CREDIT: © 2023 KAUST; ANASTASIA SERIN.

A solar distillation device can purify brine from reverse osmosis plants with over 10 percent salinity, as well as water taken directly from the Red Sea. The technology offers double the freshwater production rate of existing salt-rejection solar stills.

 

Inspired by the floating solar still in “The Life of Pi” movie, KAUST professor Qiaoqiang Gan has developed several nanomaterials and thermal isolation processes to enhance the evaporation of brackish water into pure steam. In 2016 he launched a startup, Sunny Clean Water, that produces low-cost inflatable stills capable of generating 10-20 liters of fresh water per day.

In 2021, Gan joined KAUST and teamed up with fellow KAUST professor Yu Han and researcher Kaijie Yang to improve the efficiency of salt rejection, a strategy that employs techniques such as hydrophobic surfaces or fluid convection to limit mineral buildups.

 

The team’s new evaporator is a centimeter-scale plastic cube that contains several glass fiber membranes — thin materials normally used for filtration. A horizontally aligned membrane coated with carbon nanotubes acts as a light-absorbing layer on the cube’s upper surface. Underneath it, a series of vertically oriented membranes, or “mass transfer bridges,” separate the solar absorber from the bulk salt water.

  

A simple solar-powered method to desalinate seawater and make it drinkable could be used in emergency situations or on life rafts.

CREDIT

© 2023 KAUST; Anastasia Serin.

When it comes to seawater purification, however, Gan admits that even his devices have limits. “Over time, you’ll always see salt accumulation on the solar absorbing material — the accumulated salt reflects sunlight and degrades the still’s performance,” he says.

Yang, who conceived the design, explains that the bridges contain hydrophilic microchannels that soak up seawater to the top solar layer for distillation into steam. And when salt accumulation reaches a threshold, the same microchannels transport brine back into the seawater due to the capillary action of concentration gradients.

 

The elevated bridges allow the conductive heat that occurs during salt backflow to flow into the solar still, improving evaporation efficiency. “Other evaporators can realize good salt rejection, but with a short backflow process, there's a lot of heat energy loss and it impacts water generation rates,” says Yang.

“Our system has the advantage that it can adjust the tradeoff between salt rejection and water generation.”

 

Testing in both indoor labs and outdoor field stations revealed the solar still could meet the drinking needs of two people daily, with estimated raw material costs of US$50 per square meter.

 

“We can scale up to a larger architecture by assembling the cubes together,” says Han. “Because this device offers long-term operation without any maintenance, we’re preparing for commercialization.”

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JOURNAL

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-022-34528-7 

ARTICLE TITLE

Three-dimensional open architecture enabling salt-rejection solar evaporators with boosted water production efficiency

Nuclear safety research: 1.3 million euros awarded to junior research group from TU Dresden and Helmholz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR)

Business Announcement

TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITÄT DRESDEN

 

IMAGE: ROFEX, THE ULTRAFAST ELECTRON BEAM X-RAY COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY SYSTEM AT THE HELMHOLTZ-ZENTRUM DRESDEN-ROSSENDORF (HZDR), CAN RECORD UP TO 5,000 IMAGES PER SECOND – A WORLD RECORD. IT ENABLES THE VISUALIZATION OF FLOWS AS THEY OCCUR IN THE PRIMARY COOLANT CIRCUIT OF NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS AND THUS CONTRIBUTES TO NUCLEAR SAFETY RESEARCH. view more 

CREDIT: HZDR

As a consequence of Germany’s phasing out of nuclear power, young people are steadily losing interest in the subject area of nuclear safety research. The number of graduates in this area is declining and there are ever fewer nuclear experts in Germany. At the same time, Germany still needs these specialists simply by virtue of the fact that our neighboring countries continue to operate existing nuclear power plants and build new ones. Moreover, new types of reactor such as smaller modular or liquid metal-cooled ones are also being developed. These require specialized safety research and expert knowledge. Another technological and infrastructural challenge is the disposal of highly radioactive waste – an issue that will likely affect Germany for decades to come. The junior research group RIMANUS at TU Dresden seeks to counteract the impending loss of expertise and establish appealing educational research programs to recruit young early-career researchers for nuclear safety research.

The RIMANUS project has prevailed as part of an initiative of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection for promoting groups of early-career researchers in nuclear safety research at German universities. Over the next three years, the junior research group will receive 1.28 million euros in funding. Their research activities will focus on the refinement and use of innovative imaging processes for current issues in reactor safety research as well as the monitoring of nuclear fuels.

Today’s nuclear reactors are primarily light-water reactors. For safe operation, cooling the reactor core is an imperative process in the event of a malfunction. However, if for instance the pressure system has a leak, water will evaporate and the emergency core cooling system will be impaired. A well-known malfunction was the reactor accident in Fukushima, where a power outage led to cooling failure and in turn a core meltdown.

“Current research focuses on predicting when the cooling system would no longer suffice in cases of reactor failure. Therefore, we – and other research groups around the world – are working on both creating computer simulations and conducting experiments. Such experiments require appropriate measurement technology to analyze flow behavior. Image-generating measurement methods such as those developed at HZDR can contribute immensely,” explains Dr. Michael Wagner, RIMANUS Project Leader.

Ultrafast electron beam X-ray computed tomography at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf has enabled scientists to make liquid-gas flows in pipelines visible to the human eye at up to 5,000 frames per second. This unique imaging technique was primarily developed at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf and is being used and adapted for various applications at the Chair of Imaging Techniques in Energy and Process Engineering at TU Dresden. “Our objective for the RIMANUS project is to take these X-ray imaging techniques a step further to generate 3D images and create greater beam energy for nuclear safety research,” says Wagner.

The junior research group is also looking into how to store spent nuclear fuel. Since there is currently no final repository in Germany, radioactive waste has to be temporarily kept in storage and transport containers – most commonly CASTOR casks – for well over 50 years. Researchers do not currently have the appropriate knowledge to ensure that the spent fuels will remain intact and unchanged over the course of these long storage periods. However, this information is imperative for later transferring the material to final storage vessels. It would be preferable to be able to apply a non-invasive test method that would allow scientists to gain knowledge about the state of the fuel behind the 50-centimeter thick steel walls of storage containers and avoid opening them prematurely. One possible option is the use of cosmic-ray muons. Using these simply charged particles, which are created in the Earth’s upper atmosphere and are capable of penetrating even very large, thick objects, RIMANUS researchers want to implement muon imaging to inspect the temporary storage containers for spent nuclear fuel.

The RIMANUS (“Innovative Radiation-based Imaging Techniques for Nuclear Safety Research”) research group is headquartered at TU Dresden’s Chair of Imaging Techniques in Energy and Process Engineering. Practical research is conducted at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf.

Battery research moves to next stage of commercialization

Faraday Institution research creates pathway to Innovate UK Round 5 development projects

Grant and Award Announcement

THE FARADAY INSTITUTION

HARWELL, UK (26 January 2023) UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) today announced a further investment of £27.6 million from the Faraday Battery Challenge to support collaborative R&D projects co-funded by industry and managed by Innovate UK on behalf of UKRI. At least five of the projects chosen in what was a highly competitive process leverage the knowledge, capabilities and know-how developed by the Faraday Institution research community.

UKRI announcement.

Professor Pam Thomas, CEO of the Faraday Institution commented, “The range of new projects funded by Innovate UK that are based on Faraday Institution research clearly demonstrates the success of our organisation in identifying and pursing battery science and engineering ripe for commercialisation. The Faraday Battery Challenge is working as intended to marry research, innovation and scaleup to deliver positive impact for the UK. The 17 projects announced by Innovate UK today will help create a thriving and profitable UK battery development and manufacturing industry.”

Tony Harper, Challenge Director for the Faraday Battery Challenge, said, “As we move towards a net zero future the UK’s electric vehicle industry must continue to evolve. These winning projects have all shown how their ideas can potentially accelerate the development of technologies or business practices in the UK. I look forward to seeing how their innovations help to significantly advance the performance characteristics of batteries for electric vehicles.”

The projects with Faraday Institution researcher involvement include:

REBLEND aims to further develop three processes to directly recover valuable cathode active materials (CAM) from production scrap and end of life automotive and consumer batteries for reuse in automotive batteries, building the basis for a UK-based automotive battery recycling industry. The project is led by Ecoshred, with University of Leicester, University of Birmingham, Minviro, Iconichem Widnes, Watercycle Technologies, Ecolamp Recycling, and Cornish Lithium. The project combines novel delamination, magnetic, electrostatic and membrane separation techniques, developed as part of the Faraday Institution’s ReLiB project. REBLEND has the aim to produce separated and >89% pure anodic and >94% pure cathodic black mass from shredded end of life batteries enabling battery-grade CAM recovery for £6/kg.

About:Energy has been awarded a project to further develop The Voltt – their database of battery model input parameters. The company is a spin-out founded to commercialise research developed by the Faraday Institution Multi-scale Modelling project. It is focused on breaking down a barrier that currently exists that is slowing the widespread adoption of battery modelling – access to highly accurate parameterisation data, a process that requires expensive equipment and specialist knowledge for data capture. The further development of The Voltt will empower organisations to harness the power of data and modelling to speed up the battery development process, by, for example, helping automakers with cell selection and lifetime predictions. The project also involves Imperial College London and Arrival.

OXLiD is leading a project to accelerate the development, scale-up and commercialisation of quasi-solid-state lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries. The project builds on significant progress made by the Faraday Institution LiSTAR project and commercialisation team, and involves project partners at the University of Nottingham, University College London, William Blythe, WAE, Exawatt, Emerson and Renwick, and Infineum UK. Li-S batteries are a promising energy storage technology for application where high performance, lightweight batteries are needed. Quasi-solid-state Li-S batteries have the potential to significantly enhance Li-S cycle life, energy density and operating temperature range. The project will develop suitable electrodes, separators, electrolytes, and a cell design, with the aim of combining them in pouch cell format and demonstrating superior performance.

The HISTORY - The HIgh Silicon content anOdes for a solid-state batteRY - project will further develop a multi-layer, solid state pouch cell with specifications aligned with the needs of electric vehicle pack developers. Solid state battery (SSB) technology is expected to rapidly provide safety and performance improvements compared to the incumbent lithium-ion battery technology. Ilika will design and fabricate the SSB cell. Researchers at the University of St Andrews who have been working with Ilika on a Faraday Institution Industrial Sprint on SSBs will continue their collaboration in the HISTORY project by characterising the interfaces and materials interactions in the multi-layer pouch cell. Researchers at University College London and Imperial College London will apply their expertise and tools developed as part of a number of the Faraday Institution projects to model the expansion and contraction of the SSB at single-layer, multi-layer and pack level. Nexeon will develop a high silicon content anode based on its low expansion NSP-2 material, the Centre for Process Innovation will formulate inks with the silicon powders to be incorporated into Ilika’s SSB cell and UCL will conduct in-depth characterisation of the materials. HSSMI will provide recommendations for reduced environmental impact and improved end-of-life outcomes.

Another project of note is EXtrAPower - Enabling Xtreme Automotive Power - led by Nyobolt with University of Cambridge, Coventry University and WAE. Nyobolt is bringing to market an ultra-fast charging battery technology, providing significant advantages over current state-of-the-art. This project is seeking to optimise cell performance over an extended operating temperature range with enhanced cycle life. Dr Israel Temprano (a researcher on the Faraday Institution’s Degradation project based at the University of Cambridge) will lead the project’s efforts to optimise electrolyte formulations. The Faraday Institution previously awarded two Industry Fellowships to Coventry University to develop prototype cells confirming performance potential that supported a previous funding round for Nyobolt.

The Faraday Battery Challenge brings together world-leading research, business innovation and scale up of manufacturing to accelerate to develop the latest battery technologies – a crucial part of the UK’s move towards a net zero emissions economy. An additional £211 million in funding was announced on 21st October 2022, allowing the challenge to exploit the momentum, nationwide learning and industrial support generated since it began in 2017.

For more information on the Faraday Institution, visit www.faraday.ac.uk and follow @FaradayInst on twitter.

E-cigarettes potentially harmful: PET imaging shows greater lung inflammation in e-cigarette users than cigarette smokers

Peer-Reviewed Publication

SOCIETY OF NUCLEAR MEDICINE AND MOLECULAR IMAGING

 

IMAGE: SUMMARY OF THE PILOT STUDY AND PRELIMINARY PET IMAGING FINDINGS. view more 

CREDIT: IMAGE CREATED BY R WETHERILL, DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHIATRY, PERELMAN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, PHILADELPHIA, PA.

Reston, VA—Electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) users have greater lung inflammation than cigarette smokers and non-smokers, according to a new study published online in The Journal of Nuclear Medicine. This study is the first to provide evidence that vaping e-liquids with e-cigarettes creates a unique inflammatory response in the lungs that is different from cigarette smoking.

E-cigarette usage has increased dramatically in the past several years, particularly among adolescents and young adults. While many assume that e-cigarettes are safer than conventional cigarettes, they can cause pulmonary inflammation and increase the risk of lung disease. In addition, their long-term safety has not been rigorously evaluated.

This is the first PET study to use a novel radiotracer, 18F-NOS, to compare lung inflammation between cigarette and e-cigarette users in vivo. Although PET imaging with 18F-FDG has been used in the past to investigate inflammation in smokers and vapers, its conclusions were limited.

“iNOS is an enzyme that is overexpressed in e-cigarette users and cigarette smokers and is associated with acute and chronic inflammatory diseases,” said Reagan Wetherill, PhD, the study’s lead author and faculty member at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. “This makes it a relevant target for molecular imaging of lung inflammation and inflammatory lung disease.”

Study participants were divided into three age- and sex-matched groups: five e-cigarette users, five cigarette smokers, and five never-smoked/vaped controls. 18F-NOS PET was performed to quantify and compare lung inflammation.

E-cigarette users showed greater pulmonary inflammation than cigarette smokers and never-smoked/vaped controls. A positive association between pulmonary and peripheral measures of inflammation was also found, suggesting that e-cigarette use may increase pulmonary inflammation.

“Having these findings provides patients with additional evidence about the potentially harmful effects of e-cigarette use on the lungs,” says Wetherill. “Our work advances what is currently known about the impacts of e-cigarette use on respiratory health and provides a better understanding of harm and harm reduction associated with e-cigarette use relative to cigarette smoking.”

Senior author and Perelman School of Medicine Department of Radiology faculty member Jacob Dubroff, MD, PhD, sees a growing role for using molecular imaging to understand the effects of electronic cigarettes. He notes, “These findings suggest molecular imaging may be uniquely poised to detect and measure the potential pathophysiologic harms associated with electronic cigarettes, which have been touted as a safer vehicle for nicotine compared to traditional combustible cigarettes.”

This study was made available online in January 2023.

The authors of “Molecular Imaging of Pulmonary Inflammation in Electronic and Combustible Cigarette Users: A Pilot Study” include Reagan R. Wetherill, Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Robert K. Doot, Anthony J. Young, Hsiaoju Lee, Erin K. Schubert, Robert H. Mach, and Jacob G. Dubroff, Department of Radiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Corinde E. Wiers, Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Department of Radiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Frank T. Leone, Comprehensive Smoking Treatment Program, Penn Lung Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Henry R. Kranzler, Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Crescenz VAMC, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Visit the JNM website for the latest research, and follow our new Twitter and Facebook pages @JournalofNucMed or follow us on LinkedIn.

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Please visit the SNMMI Media Center for more information about molecular imaging and precision imaging. To schedule an interview with the researchers, please contact Rebecca Maxey at (703) 652-6772 or rmaxey@snmmi.org.

About JNM and the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging

The Journal of Nuclear Medicine (JNM) is the world’s leading nuclear medicine, molecular imaging and theranostics journal, accessed 15 million times each year by practitioners around the globe, providing them with the information they need to advance this rapidly expanding field. Current and past issues of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine can be found online at http://jnm.snmjournals.org.

JNM is published by the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI), an international scientific and medical organization dedicated to advancing nuclear medicine and molecular imaging—precision medicine that allows diagnosis and treatment to be tailored to individual patients in order to achieve the best possible outcomes. For more information, visit www.snmmi.org.

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JOURNAL

Journal of Nuclear Medicine

DOI

10.2967/jnumed.122.264529 

ARTICLE TITLE

Molecular imaging of pulmonary inflammation in electronic and combustible cigarette users: a pilot study

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

19-Jan-2023

COI STATEMENT

Dr. Kranzler is a member of advisory boards for Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, Sophrosyne Pharmaceuticals, and Enthion Pharmaceuticals; a consultant to Sobrera Pharmaceuticals; recipient of grant funds and medication supplies from Alkermes for an investigator-initiated study; a member of the American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology’s Alcohol Clinical Trials Initiative, which was supported by Alkermes, Dicerna, Ethypharm, Lundbeck, Mitsubishi, and Otsuka; and a holder of U.S. patent 10,900,082 titled: "Genotype-guided dosing of opioid agonists," issued 26 January 2021. Drs. Dubroff, Doot, and Mach have received support from the Michael J. Fox Foundation.

Heatwaves can decrease the biomass of phytoplankton in lakes

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF JYVÄSKYLÄ - JYVÄSKYLÄN YLIOPISTO

 

IMAGE: PHYTOPLANKTON OCCUR MOSTLY IN THE MIXED LAYER, THE DEPTH OF WHICH IS REGULATED BY WEATHER. view more 

CREDIT: SALLA AHONEN / JYU

A recently published study showed that heatwaves reduced the biomass of phytoplankton in a boreal lake. Summertime heatwaves will become more frequent and stronger with climate change and can reduce the biomass of phytoplankton in stratified lakes.

Researchers at the Department of Biological and Environmental Science at the University of Jyväskylä followed the daily biomass of phytoplankton and environmental conditions in a humic lake Jyväsjärvi in central Finland during a summer stratification period.

During that period, warmer and less dense surface water forms a mixed layer above colder and denser water at deeper depths. Phytoplankton occur mostly in the mixed layer, the depth of which is regulated by weather. The depth of the mixed layer controls light and nutrient availability of phytoplankton. Phytoplankton receive less light but more nutrients with an increasing depth of the mixed layer. Phytoplankton needs both light and nutrients for photosynthesis.

“We found that the depth of mixed layer controlled the biomass of phytoplankton. The biomass increased with deepening of the mixed layer and decreased with shallowing of the mixed layer. Phytoplankton is responsible for the primary production in lakes and thus its biomass is the source of energy to other aquatic organisms including fish”, says the lead author of the study Salla Ahonen, a doctoral researcher at the Department of Biological and Environmental Science.

Climatic drives such as wind speed and temperature difference between air and water regulate the depth of the mixed layer. During heatwaves, warm and calm weather reduces the depth of the mixed layer, whereas colder and windy weather deepens the mixed layer. Warming climate will increase heatwaves and thus the conditions that can reduce phytoplankton biomass in lakes.

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JOURNAL

Freshwater Biology

DOI

10.1111/fwb.14048 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Increasing air temperature relative to water temperature makes the mixed layer shallower, reducing phytoplankton biomass in a stratified lake

Study shows that bioprinted artificial skin can be used in cosmetics and drugs testing

The performance of a model obtained in a 3D printer was equivalent to that of the conventional model produced manually. The biomimetic material can be produced on a large scale, reducing animal testing by the cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries

Peer-Reviewed Publication

FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO

 

IMAGE: IN EXPERIMENTS CONDUCTED BY SCIENTISTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SÃO PAULO, THE PERFORMANCE OF A MODEL OBTAINED IN A 3D PRINTER WAS EQUIVALENT TO THAT OF THE CONVENTIONAL MODEL PRODUCED MANUALLY. view more 

CREDIT: FCF-USP

Bioengineered artificial skin has become an increasingly important and reliable platform for researchers to test the safety and efficacy of drugs and cosmetics. It can be produced on a large scale and is a good substitute for animal testing. The most promising technologies for production of in vitro models include 3D bioprinting. Because it is recent, however, its performance has yet to be sufficiently validated in comparison with traditional manually produced models. This was the main aim of a study conducted by researchers at the University of São Paulo’s School of Pharmaceutical Sciences (FCF-USP) in Brazil. The results, reported in an article published in the journal Bioprinting, confirmed that the artificial skin achieved a similar performance.

In the study supported by FAPESP, the researchers compared the conventional mimetic model based on manual pipetting with extrusion bioprinting, which “allows the in vitro reconstruction of a more relevant and representative model of human skin”, according to the authors of the article.

“Calling the model ‘artificial skin’ makes it sound synthetic, but actually it’s human tissue that closely resembles natural skin and is very suitable for safety and efficacy testing of bioactive compounds,” said Silvya Stuchi Maria-Engler, a professor and researcher at FCF-USP’s Department of Clinical and Toxicological Analysis.

Quality control and performance assessment standards established by international institutions such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) were used as validation criteria. “The first was tissue morphology, which should be representative of human skin in vivo, with a stratified epidermis containing four layers: stratum basale, spinosum, granulosum and corneum. This means that in vitro reconstructed skin has the same functions as natural skin, which contains a selective barrier against the external medium for protection against chemical stressors [pollutants and topically applied products] and physical stressors [sunlight], while also retaining water,” said Denisse Esther Mallaupoma Camarena, co-first author of the article and a postdoctoral fellow at FCF-USP.

The next step was to assess the performance of the bioprinted skin as a barrier. Like natural skin, artificial skin should be able to prevent the penetration of detergents that cause irritation. To test this function, the researchers exposed the model to sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), a detergent that causes skin irritation, at different concentrations for 18 hours.

The last validation test entailed topical application of reference chemicals classified as irritants (such as acids, for example) or non-irritants (physiological solutions). The results showed the histology and cytoarchitecture of both in vitro reconstructed skin models to be consistent with internationally validated epidermic models. The quality of the bioprinted skin was as good as that of the manually reconstructed skin. Both responded equally well to irritants and distinguished between these and non-irritants.

“These findings prove that our bioprinted skin can be used instead of the Draize test, an acute toxicity test that applies the substance directly to rabbit skin. Besides the avoidance of animal testing, it’s less subject to human error and variability in the responses obtained by the cosmetics industry,” said Julia de Toledo Bagatin, first author of the article and a PhD candidate at FCF-USP.

“Dissemination of part of the methods developed will help increase the use of alternatives to animal testing by the cosmetics industry, reinforcing our commitment to the cause,” said Juliana Lago, penultimate author of the article and scientific manager of Natura, a major Brazilian cosmetics company. Natura supported the study by funding part of the development of the bioprinter used to make the reconstructed skin.

“Basic science done by academia produced the knowledge that served as a foundation for this project. The business-university partnership enabled us to accelerate application of this knowledge in the tissue reconstruction project and automation via bioprinting, all of which is important to our company.”

More reliable bioprinters

Although the main results of the study show that bioprinted skin can be used as a platform to test irritation in the laboratory, the researchers note the need for caution in using bioprinters. “They produce mimetic tissue by cell dispersion using a needle or conical nozzle, and depending on the system chosen, there may be cellular response alterations in the in vitro irritation test,” Maria-Engler said. “Bioprinting is now being used in many fields, so it’s extremely important to acknowledge that the dispersion system chosen can damage the reliability of the tests by leading to altered responses, such as increased inflammation.”

The researchers plan to bioprint more complex models comprising epidermis, dermis and hypodermis with representative human skin cells. This will move the model closer to reality and produce more biologically relevant responses in safety and efficacy testing of products for topical use.

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

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JOURNAL

Bioprinting

DOI

10.1016/j.bprint.2022.e00251 

ARTICLE TITLE

Bioprinted and manual human epidermis production: A compared performance for skin irritation tests

First report of rare cat discovered on Mt. Everest

New scientific finding marks the first documented discovery of Pallas’s Cat on the world’s highest mountain

Peer-Reviewed Publication

WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY

 

IMAGE: FINDINGS FROM A NEW PAPER PUBLISHED IN CAT NEWS HAVE IDENTIFIED THE FIRST EVER REPORT OF PALLAS’S CAT ON MOUNT EVEREST, IN THE SAGARMATHA NATIONAL PARK IN NEPAL view more 

CREDIT: JULIE LARSEN/MAHER/WCS

Findings from a new paper published in Cat News have identified the first ever report of Pallas’s cat on Mount Everest, in the Sagarmatha National Park in Nepal. This groundbreaking finding is a result of the 2019 National Geographic and Rolex Perpetual Planet Everest Expedition, the most comprehensive single scientific expedition to the mountain in history. 

From April 7 to May 2, 2019, Dr. Tracie Seimon of Wildlife Conservation Society’s Zoological Health Program, based at the Bronx Zoo, co-led the Perpetual Planet Everest Expedition biology field team of scientists who collected environmental samples from two locations 6 km (3.7 miles) apart at 5,110 and 5,190 m (16,765 and 17,027 ft) elevation above sea level along Sagarmatha National Park on Mount Everest’s Southern Flank.  

“It is phenomenal to discover proof of this rare and remarkable species at the top of the world,” said Dr. Seimon. “The nearly four-week journey was extremely rewarding not just for our team but for the larger scientific community. The discovery of Pallas’s cat on Everest illuminates the rich biodiversity of this remote high-alpine ecosystem and extends the known range of this species to eastern Nepal.”

The DNA analysis of scat samples collected from both sites confirmed two Pallas’s cats inhabit Mount Everest and overlap in territory with red fox. The researchers found evidence of pika and mountain weasel DNA in the samples, an important food source for Pallas’s cat. These findings also add a new species to the list of known mammals in Sagarmatha National Park, a heavily visited and protected World Heritage site.

“This is a unique discovery not only in terms of science but also conservation as this population of Pallas’s cat is legally protected under CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora),” said National Geographic Explorer and co-author of the paper, Dr. Anton Seimon. “We hope that the confirmation of this new charismatic species will raise awareness of and education about the diversity of species at this iconic World Heritage Site.”

The number of tourists visiting Sagarmatha National Park and Mount Everest has been dramatically increasing, from just a few thousand in the 1970s to over fifty thousand in 2019. It is notable that Pallas’s cat went undetected in this park until 2019, and the new study demonstrates how conservation genetics and environmental sampling can be utilized as a powerful approach to discover and study cryptic and elusive species like Pallas’s cat. 

Future research combining camera trap surveys and collection of additional scat samples would help to better define the Pallas’s cat population, range, density, and their diet in Sagarmatha National Park. 

“The groundbreaking 2019 Perpetual Planet Everest Expedition continues to be extremely valuable to better understand the most iconic environment on our planet,” said Nicole Alexiev, Vice President of Science and Innovation Programs at National Geographic Society. “These results are a perfect illustration of why this work is important and a cornerstone of our partnership with Rolex to study and explore Earth’s critical life support systems.” 

From April to May 2019, an international, multidisciplinary team of scientists conducted the most comprehensive single scientific expedition to Mt. Everest in the Khumbu Region of Nepal as part of National Geographic and Rolex’s Perpetual Planet Expeditions partnership. Team members from eight countries, including 17 Nepalese researchers conducted trailblazing research in five areas of science that are critical to understanding environmental changes and their impacts: biology, glaciology, meteorology, geology and mapping. To learn more visit: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/topic/perpetual-planet 

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METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

First report of Pallas’s cat in Sagarmatha National Park - Mount Everest Region, Nepal

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

25-Jan-2023

Animals: Cat-egorising play and genuine fighting in cats

Peer-Reviewed Publication

SCIENTIFIC REPORTS

The behaviour of cat interactions has been categorised into playful, aggressive and intermediate groups that may help owners distinguish between play and genuine fighting. The study, published in Scientific Reports, suggests that cats may engage in a mixture of playful and aggressive behaviours, which could escalate into a fight if not managed by the owner.

Noema Gajdoš‑Kmecová and colleagues evaluated 105 video clips sourced from YouTube and directly from cat owners of interactions between 210 cats. Based on initial observations of the cats, the authors assembled six observable behaviour categories including wrestling, chasing and vocalisation, which they then used to assess the remaining cats. Cats were grouped based on the frequency and duration of the six behaviours. Separately, four of the authors reviewed the same videos and came up with three groups to define the interactions between cats: ‘playful’ (friendly interactions); ‘agonistic’ (aggressive interactions); or a third category, ‘intermediate’ (a mixture of both playful and aggressive behaviour).

More than a half of the cats (56.2% or 118 cats) were described by the authors as playful in their interaction, 28.6% (60 cats) were labelled as agonistic, and 15.2% (32 cats) were labelled as intermediate.

When comparing the cat behaviour groups with the three interaction groupings defined by the authors, they found that wrestling behaviour between cats was most closely associated with the playful group, while vocalization and chasing were associated with the agonistic group. The intermediate group, while observed as having characteristics of both, was more closely related to the playful group than the agonistic group. The intermediate group showed prolonged exchanges of behaviours such as laying on their back with their belly upwards, pouncing, stalking, and approaching and grooming each other.

The authors suggest that this combination of playful and aggressive behaviours may reflect a short-term disagreement in social behaviour between the cats, rather than a break-down in the relationship. The authors suggest that identifying potential tension between cats may help owners manage the relationship to avoid escalation and the need for separation.

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Article details

An ethological analysis of close-contact inter-cat interactions determining if cats are playing, fighting, or something in between

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-26121-1

Please link to the article in online versions of your report (the URL will go live after the embargo ends):  https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-26121-1

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JOURNAL

Scientific Reports

DOI

10.1038/s41598-022-26121-1