How the Mongolian gerbil may help speed recovery of a rare inner ear problem

Rutgers scientists develop testing model to enhance understanding of a condition known as “third window syndrome”

Peer-Reviewed Publication

RUTGERS UNIVERSITY

To patients of P. Ashley Wackym, a surgical otologist-neurotologist at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, a diagnosis of superior semicircular canal dehiscence (SSCD) can feel like a death sentence.

 

SSCD, a type of “third window syndrome,” is caused by an abnormal third mobile window of the inner ear. Normally humans have two of these windows. When a third “window” is present – at birth, after trauma or for reasons that remain unclear – patients can suffer sound-induced dizziness, hearing internal sounds unusually well (one-third can hear their eyes move or blink), and chronic headaches.

 

Patients can also suffer cognitive dysfunction – such as impaired memory, poor concentration, spatial disorientation, slurred speech, out-of-body experiences and crippling anxiety.

 

“If you could just blow my head off, I’d let you,” one patient said she told her husband after receiving a diagnosis of SSCD. Vertigo, nausea, confusion and other symptoms of the rare inner ear problem had made everyday tasks – from shopping to listening to music – unbearable. “I cannot live like this,” she said.

 

Wackym, Todd Mowery and other colleagues in the Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery are working to speed the recovery of patients like this one, and a Mongolian gerbil with an ear structure like humans could help eventually help researchers better understand the cognitive challenges and facilitate recovery.

 

Their findings are published in the neuro-otology section of the journal Frontiers in Neurology.

 

“We don’t know what part of the brain is impacted by this disorder,” said Wackym. “That's where the animal model comes in. With this model we might be able to understand the nervous system pathways affected by SSCD and develop interventions to prevent this dysfunction or accelerate recovery.”

 

As much as two percent of the U.S. population has SSCD, which was first medically identified in 1998. “While surgery can plug the third hole, based upon neuropsychology studies in these patients, full cognitive recovery can take between three and 18 months,” Wackym said.

 

To develop the animal testing model, 36 adult Mongolian gerbils were randomly divided into two groups, which received either a small (one millimeter) or large (two millimeter) semicircular canal fenestration in their inner ear. This procedure created an artificial third window.

 

The researchers then studied how the animals responded to pressure and sound stimulation. They found that the large window resulted in similar electrophysiologic findings as observed in human patients with SSCD.

 

They also discovered the bony holes created in the animal’s inner ear healed spontaneously, with all hearing and balance functioning returning to baseline. “This will enable future studies to test SSCD conditions before, during and after recovery — findings that could be applied to human patients,” Wackym said.

 

“If we knew what was impacted and what was involved with the central neuroplasticity of SSCD, we could develop interventions that might speed up the human-recovery process,” he said. “As the first successful animal model for SSCD, this tool will help neuroscientists better understand the anatomy and pathology of SSCD cognitive dysfunction.”

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JOURNAL

Frontiers in Neurology

DOI

10.3389/fneur.2022.1035478 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

New model of superior semicircular canal dehiscence with reversible diagnostic findings characteristic of patients with the disorder

WAIT, WHAT?!

Study finds watching TV is good for the planet

Peer-Reviewed Publication

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS USA

A new paper in Annals of Botany, published by Oxford University Press, indicates that watching nature documentaries makes people more interested in plants, potentially provoking an involvement in botany and ecology.

Some 40% of plant species are under threat of extinction. Plants that are not directly useful to humans are particularly vulnerable. People often do not recognize how important many plants are due to a cognitive bias sometimes called “plant blindness” or “plant awareness disparity.” While humans are generally concerned with endangered animals, threats to plants are harder to recognize and address. In the United States, for example, plants receive less than 4% of federal funding for endangered species, despite comprising 57% of the endangered species list.

Researchers here noted that in the past several natural history productions, including Planet Earth II, Blue Planet II, Seven Worlds, and One Planet, made viewers much more aware of the animals on the shows. While scientists cannot draw a clear link between such TV shows and conservation efforts, nature documentaries provide a direct way to reach mass audiences and engage them.

Here, the researchers investigated whether nature documentaries can promote plant awareness, which may ultimately increase audience engagement with plant conservation programs. They focused on Green Planet, a 2022 BBC documentary narrated by Sir David Attenborough. The show, watched by nearly 5 million people in the United Kingdom, featured a diversity of plant species, highlighting vegetation from tropical rainforests, aquatic environments, seasonal lands, deserts, and urban spaces. The program also addressed environmental concerns directly, examining the dangers of invasive monocultures and deforestation.

The researchers measured whether Green Planet drove interest in the plants by exploring people’s online behavior around the time of the broadcast. First, they noted the species that appeared on the show and the time each one appeared on-screen. Then they extracted Google Trends and Wikipedia page hits for those same species before and after the episodes of the documentary aired.

The researchers here found a substantial effect of Green Planet on viewers’ awareness and interest in the portrayed plant species. Some 28.1% of search terms representing plants mentioned in the BBC documentary had peak popularity in the UK, measured using Google Trends, the week after the broadcast of the relevant episode. Wikipedia data showed this as well. Almost a third (31.3%) of the Wikipedia pages related to plants mentioned in Green Planet showed increased visits the week after the broadcast. The investigators also note that people were more likely to do online searches for plants that enjoyed more screen time on Green Planet.

“I think that increasing public awareness of plants is essential and fascinating," said the paper’s lead author, Joanna Kacprzyk. “In this study, we show that nature documentaries can increase plant awareness among the audience. Our results also suggest that the viewers found certain plant species particularly captivating. These plants could be used for promoting plant conservation efforts and counteracting the alarming loss of plant biodiversity.“

The paper, “Making a greener planet: nature documentaries promote plant awareness,” is available (at midnight on February 16th) at: https://academic.oup.com/aob/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/aob/mcac149.

Direct correspondence to: 
Joanna Kacprzyk
School of Biology and Environmental Sciences
University College Dublin
Dublin 4, IRELAND
joanna.kacprzyk@ucd.ie

To request a copy of the study, please contact:
Daniel Luzer 
daniel.luzer@oup.com

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JOURNAL

Annals of Botany

DOI

10.1093/aob/mcac149 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Content analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Making a greener planet: nature documentaries promote plant awareness

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

16-Feb-2023

Carolina researchers develop greener alternative to fossil fuels by producing hydrogen from water and light

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL

 

IMAGE: FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: JAMES CAHOON AND TAYLOR TEITSWORTH view more 

CREDIT: STEVE EXUM

Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Department of Chemistry have engineered silicon nanowires that can convert sunlight into electricity by splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen gas, a greener alternative to fossil fuels.

Fifty years ago, scientists first demonstrated that liquid water can be split into oxygen and hydrogen gas using electricity produced by illuminating a semiconductor electrode. Although hydrogen generated using solar power is a promising form of clean energy, low efficiencies and high costs have hindered the introduction of commercial solar-powered hydrogen plants. 

An economic feasibility analysis suggests that using a slurry of electrodes made from nanoparticles instead of a rigid solar panel design could substantially lower costs, making solar-produced hydrogen competitive with fossil fuels. However, most existing particle-based light-activated catalysts, also referred to as photocatalysts, can absorb only ultraviolet radiation, limiting their energy-conversion efficiency under solar illumination.

James Cahoon, Ph.D., Hyde Family Foundation Professor of Chemistry in UNC-Chapel Hill’s College of Arts and Sciences, and his colleagues in the department have been working on the chemical synthesis of semiconductor nanomaterials with unique physical properties that can enable a range of technologies, from solar cells to solid-state memory. Cahoon serves as the corresponding author of the findings published Feb. 9 in Nature. 

Cahoon and his team designed new silicon nanowires to have multiple solar cells along their axis so that they could produce the power needed to split water. 

“This design is unprecedented in previous reactor designs and allows silicon to be used for the first time in a PSR,” explained Taylor Teitsworth, a postdoctoral research associate in Cahoon's lab.

Silicon absorbs both visible and infrared light. It has historically been a top choice for solar cells, also referred to as photovoltaic cells and semiconductors, owing to this and other properties – including its abundance, low toxicity and stability. With its electronic properties, the only way to drive water splitting wirelessly with silicon particles is to encode multiple photovoltaic cells in each particle. This can be achieved by generating particles that contain multiple interfaces, called junctions, between two different forms of silicon — p-type and n-type semiconductors.

Previously, Cahoon’s research focused on a bottom-up synthesis and spatially controlled modulation of silicone with boron for p-type nanowires and with phosphorus for n-type nanowires to impart desirable geometries and functionalities.

“We used this approach to create a new class of water-splitting multijunction nanoparticles. These combine the material and economic advantages of silicon with the photonic advantages of nanowires that have a diameter smaller than the wavelength of absorbed light,” said Cahoon. “Owing to the inherent asymmetry of the wire junctions, we were able to use a light-driven electrochemical method to deposit the co-catalysts selectively onto the ends of the wires to enable water splitting.”

The research was supported by grant CBET-1914711 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) with foundational work supported by the Alliance for Molecular Photoelectrode Design for Solar Fuels, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences under award no. DE-SC0001011. 

Device fabrication and electron microscopy imaging and analysis were performed in part at the Chapel Hill Analytical and Nanofabrication Laboratory, a member of the North Carolina Research Triangle Nanotechnology Network, which is supported by grant ECCS-2025064 from the NSF as part of the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure. The Research Computing group at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill also provided computational resources for optical simulations.  

The research received additional support from the NSF by grant CHE-1848278 for s-SNOM characterization and through various individual graduate research fellowships.

Learn more at http://cahoon.chem.unc.edu. 

JOURNAL

Nature

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Designer silicon nanowires produce hydrogen from water and light

This ‘Harry Potter’ light sensor achieves magically high efficiency of 200 per cent

Using green light and a double-layered cell, Riccardo Ollearo of the Eindhoven University of Technology has come up with a photodiode that has sensitivity that many can only dream of.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

EINDHOVEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

Using green light and a double-layered cell, PhD researcher Riccardo Ollearo has come up with a photodiode that has sensitivity that many can only dream of.

Solar panels with multiple stacked cells are currently breaking records. Remarkably, a team of researchers from Eindhoven University of Technology and TNO at Holst Centre have now managed to make photodiodes - based on a similar technology - with a photoelectron yield of more than 200 percent. You would think that efficiencies of more than 100 percent are only possible using alchemy and other Harry Potter-like wizardry. But it can be done. The answer lies in the magical world of quantum efficiency and stacked solar cells.

René Janssen, professor at the Eindhoven University of Technology and co-author of a new Science Advances paper, explains. “I know, this sound incredible. But, we’re not talking about normal energy efficiency here. What counts in the world of photodiodes is quantum efficiency. Instead of the total amount of solar energy, it counts the number of photons that the diode converts into electrons.

I always compare it to the days when we still had guilders and lira. If a tourist from the Netherlands received only 100 lira for their 100 guilders during their holiday in Italy, they might have felt a bit shortchanged. But because in quantum terms, every guilder counts as one lira, they still achieved an efficiency of 100 per cent. This also holds for photodiodes: the better the better the diode is able to detect weak light signals, the higher its efficiency.”

Dark current
Photodiodes are light-sensitive semiconductor devices that produce a current when they absorb photons from a light source. They are used as sensors in a variety of applications, including medical purposes, wearable monitoring, light communication, surveillance systems, and machine vision. In all these domains, high sensitivity is key. 

For a photodiode to work correctly, it has to meet two conditions. Firstly, it should minimize the current that is generated in the absence of light, the so-called dark current. The less dark current, the more sensitive the diode. Secondly, it should be able to distinguish the level of background light (the ‘noise’) from the relevant infrared light. Unfortunately, these two things usually do not go together, on the contrary.

Tandem
Four years ago, Riccardo Ollearo, one of Janssen’s PhD students and lead author of the paper, set about solving this conundrum. In his research he joined forces with the photodetector team working at Holst Centre, a research institute specialized in wireless and printed sensor technologies, Ollearo built a so-called tandem diode, a device that combines both perovskite and organic PV cells.

Combining these two layers – a technique also increasingly used in state-of-the-art solar cells – he was able to optimize both conditions, reaching an efficiency of 70 per cent.

 “Impressive, but not enough”, says the ambitious young researcher from Italy. “I decided to see if I could increase the efficiency even further with the help of green light. I knew from earlier research that Illuminating solar cells with additional light can modify their quantum efficiency, and in some cases enhance it. To my surprise, this worked even better than expected in improving the photodiode sensitivity. We were able to increase the efficiency for near-infrared light to over 200 per cent!”

Mystery
Up this point, the researchers still don’t know exactly how this works, although they’ve come up with a theory that might explain the effect.

“We think that the additional green light leads to a build-up of electrons in the perovskite layer. This acts as a reservoir of charges that is released when infrared photons are absorbed in the organic layer”, says Ollearo. “In other words, every infrared photon that gets through and is converted in an electron, gets company from a bonus electron, leading to an efficiency of 200 per cent or more. Think of it as getting two lira for your guilder, instead of one!”

Putting the diode to the test
The researcher tested the photodiode, which is hundred times as thin as a sheet of newsprint, and suitable for use in flexible devices,, in the lab. “We wanted to see whether the device could pick up subtle signals, such as the heart or respiration rate of a human being in an environment with realistic background light. We opted for an indoor scenario, during a sunny day with the curtains partially closed. And it worked!”

Holding the device at 130 cm from a finger, the researchers were able to detect minute changes in the amount of infrared light that was reflected back into the diode. These changes turn out to be a correct indication of changes in the blood pressure in a person’s veins, which in turn indicate heart rate. When pointing the device at the person’s chest, they were able to measure the respiration rate from light movements in the thorax (see image)”.

Future

With the publication of the paper in Science Advances, Ollearo’s work is all but finished. He will defend his thesis research on April 21. So, does the research stop there?

“No, certainly not. We want to see if we can further improve the device, for instance by making it quicker”, says Janssen. “We also want to explore whether we can clinically test the device, for instance in collaboration with the FORSEE project.”

The FORSEE project, led by TU/e researcher Sveta Zinger and in collaboration with the Catharina Hospital in Eindhoven, is developing an intelligent camera that can observe a patient’s heart and respiration rates.

Let’s hope the researchers at TU/e and TNO continue to prove that you don’t need to be a Harry Potter to achieve amazing feats of science!

More information

Riccardo Ollearo, René Janssen, Gerwin Gelinck et al. Vitality surveillance at distance using thin-film tandem-like narrowband near-infrared 2 photodiodes with light-enhanced responsivity, Science Advances

 

In the left image we see the set-up in which the new tandem photodiode can be used to monitor the heart and respiration rates of a person. The right images show the detected heart and respiration signals recorded with the photodiode at a distance of 130 cm.

CREDIT

TU/e | Riccardo Ollearo

Holding the photodiode device at 130 cm from his finger, researcher Riccardo Ollearo was able to detect minute changes in the amount of infrared light that was reflected back into the diode. These changes turn out to be a correct indication of a person’s heart rate.

CREDIT

TU/e | Bart van Overbeeke

JOURNAL

Science Advances

DOI

10.1126/sciadv.adf9861 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Vitality surveillance at distance using thin-film tandem-like narrowband near-infrared photodiodes with light-enhanced responsivity

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

17-Feb-2023

Tame heat with pressure

Peer-Reviewed Publication

CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES HEADQUARTERS

 

IMAGE: BAROCALORIC THERMAL BATTERIES: CONCEPT AND REALIZATION. view more 

CREDIT: INSTITUTE OF METAL RESEARCH

A Chinese research team has developed a new concept for extracting thermal energy from low-temperature waste heat sources and reusing it on demand simply by controlling the pressure.

Heat production accounts for more than 50% of the world's final energy consumption and analysis of waste heat potential shows that 72% of the world's primary energy consumption is lost after conversion, mainly in the form of heat. It is also responsible for more than 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Against this background, researchers led by Prof. LI Bing from the Institute of Metal Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have proposed and realized a new concept—barocaloric thermal batteries based on the unique inverse barocaloric effect.

The study was published in Science Advances.

An inverse barocaloric effect is characterized by a pressure-induced endothermic response, in sharp contrast to a normal barocaloric effect where pressurization leads to an exothermic response. "A barocaloric thermal battery cycle consists of three steps, including thermal charging upon pressurization, storage with pressure, and thermal discharging upon depressurization," said Prof. LI, corresponding author of the study.

The barocaloric thermal battery was materialized in ammonium thiocyanate (NH4SCN). Discharge was manifested as the heat of 43 J g-1 or a temperature rise of about 15 K. The heat released was 11 times greater than the mechanical energy input.

To understand the physical origin of the unique inverse barocaloric effect, the working material NH4SCN has been well characterized using synchrotron X-ray and neutron scattering techniques. It undergoes a crystal structural phase transition from a monoclinic to an orthorhombic phase at 363 K, accompanied by a volumetric negative thermal expansion of ~5% and entropy changes of about 128 J kg-1 K-1.

This transition is easily driven by pressure as low as 40 MPa, and it is the first inverse barocaloric system with entropy changes greater than 100 J kg-1K-1. Pressure-dependent neutron scattering and molecular dynamics simulations showed that the transverse vibrations of SCN¯ anions are enhanced by pressure and the hydrogen bonds that form the long-range order are then weakened.

As a result, the system becomes disordered in response to external pressure and thus the material absorbs heat from the environment.

As an emerging solution for manipulating heat, barocaloric thermal batteries are expected to play an active role in a variety of applications such as low-temperature industrial waste heat harvesting and reuse, solid-state refrigeration heat transfer systems, smart grids, and residential heat management.

This study was supported by CAS, the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

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JOURNAL

Science Advances

DOI

10.1126/sciadv.add0374 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Thermal batteries based on inverse barocaloric effects

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

17-Feb-2023

More than a thousand studies on coronaviruses summarized by researchers at Eötvös Loránd University

Researchers at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) have processed the scientific findings on COVID-19 disease severity, which reveal the risk factors and possible causes of the differential course of the disease.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

EÖTVÖS LORÁND UNIVERSITY (ELTE), FACULTY OF SCIENCE

 

IMAGE: RESEARCHERS AT EÖTVÖS LORÁND UNIVERSITY (ELTE) HAVE PROCESSED THE SCIENTIFIC FINDINGS ON COVID-19 DISEASE SEVERITY, WHICH REVEAL THE RISK FACTORS AND POSSIBLE CAUSES OF THE DIFFERENTIAL COURSE OF THE DISEASE. THEIR STUDY WAS PUBLISHED IN VIRUSES. view more 

CREDIT: PHOTO: MÜLLER VIKTOR, ZSICHLA LEVENTE / EÖTVÖS LORÁND UNIVERSITY

Researchers at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) have processed the scientific findings on COVID-19 disease severity, which reveal the risk factors and possible causes of the differential course of the disease. Their study was published in Viruses.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the whole world, but the number of cases and deaths is very unevenly distributed between geographical regions and individual risk has been significantly influenced by the infected individual, the infectious virus strain and some characteristics of the environment.

The clinical course and outcome of COVID-19 is highly variable.

Understanding why some people become asymptomatic while others lose their lives is essential both to cure the disease and to control the epidemic.

Levente Zsichla, a student of the Institute of Biology at ELTE and his supervisor, Dr. Viktor Müller, Associate Professor at the Institute of Biology at ELTE, analysed more than a thousand studies to provide a comprehensive picture of how processes influence the severity of COVID-19 at the individual level.

In their study, they examined in detail the role of demographic factors (age and biological sex, and related pregnancy), the interactions of the disease with other infectious and non-communicable comorbidities, and the influence of genetic polymorphisms, lifestyle, microbiota and established immune memory. In addition, the impact of genetic variation in the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and environmental factors such as air pollution and socioeconomic status were reviewed.

For each factor, the evidence, sometimes conflicting, for the association with COVID-19 outcomes was examined and possible mechanisms of action were outlined. They also reviewed the complex interactions between different risk factors and the feedback effects of epidemic closures on these factors. We review some examples from their study.

WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN - AGE AND UNDERLYING DISEASES

Advanced age is among the strongest risk factors for COVID-19 mortality. This effect was first reported in early 2020 and has since been confirmed by numerous studies. These findings show that

the risk of death in adults doubles approximately every 6-7 years of life,

and (in the case of the first major wave of the pandemic) has already exceeded 1% in the 65-75 age group. Ageing of lung tissue and the immune system, and the age-related increase in sterile systemic inflammation levels may also be responsible for this phenomenon.

Some chronic diseases also increase the risk of severe COVID-19, but there are exceptions and controversial cases. While obesity, diabetes, hypertension, chronic kidney disease and cardiovascular disease are certainly risk factors, the results for several immunological, neurological and mental diseases are still inconclusive. There is also such controversy within lung diseases. While chronic obstructive pulmonary disease seems to have a clear aggravating effect, in the majority of studies allergic asthma has been found to be a neutral or even risk-reducing underlying condition. This may be because, although both conditions are associated with shortness of breath, chest tightness, wheezing and coughing, the causes and mechanisms of the two conditions are largely different.

MEN ARE MORE VULNERABLE, WOMEN HAVE MORE COMPLICATIONS

Data show that men are at about twice the risk of serious COVID-19 infection, not only among older people but also regardless of age. Similar associations have also been shown for other viral respiratory diseases (e.g. influenza) and infectious pneumonia, so the mechanism is probably not unique to COVID-19. The role of several X-linked genes and the differential expression of other genes that play a key role in the immune system may underlie this phenomenon. In addition, men with severe COVID-19 often have immunological problems involving a family of immune molecules produced against viruses, interferons. In a significant proportion of patients, the production of these interferons is disturbed or the body starts to produce antibodies against them, inactivating the otherwise protective proteins.

Women have a lower risk of severe COVID-19 disease, but a higher rate of post-COVID-19 syndrome. Pregnancy is a particular risk factor for the course of the infection, with pregnant infected women more likely to develop gestational hypertension, more often being admitted to intensive care and the consequences for the foetus/infant.

INDIRECT EFFECTS OF THE ENVIRONMENT

Poor socioeconomic status, including poverty, poor housing conditions or belonging to an ethnic minority, has been shown to be a risk factor in many countries. It also affects people's lifestyle, nutrition, exposure to air pollution and infectious respiratory diseases, and the availability and quality of health care. Unsurprisingly, and supported by research evidence, regular physical activity and a healthy diet are beneficial for overall health and COVID-19 outcomes, while excessive alcohol consumption increases the risk of serious disease. Even more surprisingly, the impact of smoking, which significantly impairs respiratory function, on the clinical outcome of SARS-CoV-2 infection remains undetermined. In contrast, a growing body of research links long-term exposure to high concentrations of particulate matter with severe coronavirus disease.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE REVIEW

There have been several summaries of factors influencing the outcome of COVID-19, but these have either covered a small area or provided only a sketchy summary of a wider range of risk factors. The new study provides the most comprehensive overview of risk factors,

highlighting the dominant role of age, biological sex, certain chronic underlying diseases, previously acquired specific immunity, and the infectious virus strain in the course of the disease.

If you take the time to read it - and we recommend it to our brave and persistent readers - you will see how complex the science is and how often it is difficult to draw clear conclusions. It also reveals the amazing scientific collaboration that has taken place over the past few years as the international scientific community has joined forces to find answers and solutions to the pandemic threatening the world. Fortunately, with the development of effective vaccines and the immunity of those who have been affected, the pandemic has gradually been pushed into the background. Nevertheless, as the virus is expected to be with us for a long time to come, the conclusions of this study will be needed well into the future.

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JOURNAL

Viruses

DOI

10.3390/v15010175 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Meta-analysis

ARTICLE TITLE

Risk Factors of Severe COVID-19: A Review of Host, Viral and Environmental Factors

New antioxidants found in beef, chicken, and pork!

Establishment of a highly sensitive detection method for imidazole dipeptide oxidation derivatives

Peer-Reviewed Publication

OSAKA METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: OSAKA METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY RESEARCHERS DEVELOPED A NEW PROTOCOL FOR SELECTIVE AND HIGHLY SENSITIVE DETECTION, DISCOVERING FIVE TYPES OF 2-OXO-IMIDAZOLE-CONTAINING DIPEPTIDES(2-OXO-IDPS) USING MASS SPECTROMETRY. THE 2-OXO-IDPS, PRESENT IN LIVING ORGANISMS, EXHIBIT VERY HIGH ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY, AND WERE FOUND TO BE ABUNDANT IN MEAT INCLUDING, BEEF, PORK, AND CHICKEN. view more 

CREDIT: HIDESHI IHARA, OSAKA METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY

Osaka, Japan – Imidazole dipeptides (IDPs), which are abundant in meat and fish, are substances produced in the bodies of various animals, including humans, and have been reported to be effective in relieving fatigue and preventing dementia. However, the physiological mechanism by which IDPs exhibit these activities had not been determined previously.

A research team, led by Professor Hideshi Ihara from the Osaka Metropolitan University Graduate School of Science, was the first to discover 2-oxo-imidazole-containing dipeptides (2-oxo-IDPs)—which have one more oxygen atom than normal IDPs—and found that they are the most common variety of IDPs derivatives in the body. The researchers also found that they have remarkably high antioxidant activity.

In their study, the researchers established a method for selective and highly sensitive detection of five types of 2-oxo-IDPs using mass spectrometry, which enables quantitative detection of trace 2-oxo-IDPs in living organisms. Using this method, they revealed for the first time that beef, pork, chicken, and other meats contain antioxidants, not only IDPs but a variety of different 2-oxo-IDPs. Their findings were published in Antioxidants.

“We hope that this research method, which enables advanced analysis of 2-oxo-IDPs, will be applied not only to basic biology but also to medicine, agriculture, and pharmacy, where it will help improve peoples’ health and prevent diseases,” concluded Professor Ihara.

###

About OMU 

Osaka Metropolitan University is a new public university established in April 2022, formed by merger between Osaka City University and Osaka Prefecture University. For more research news visit https://www.omu.ac.jp/en/ or follow @OsakaMetUniv_en and #OMUScience.

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JOURNAL

Antioxidants

DOI

10.3390/antiox11122401 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animal tissue samples

ARTICLE TITLE

Quantitative Determination of 2-Oxo-Imidazole-Containing Dipeptides by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography/Tandem Mass Spectrometry

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

Avoiding a global chocolate disaster – how tracing and recalls avoided a worldwide Salmonella outbreak

Largest ever recall of chocolate products in global history, just before Easter, prevented thousands of extra cases; a total of 455 cases of Salmonella Typhimurium found in 17 countries; UK had most cases with 128

Reports and Proceedings

EUROPEAN SOCIETY OF CLINICAL MICROBIOLOGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES

Like any other manufactured food product, chocolate can be contaminated if key ingredients or processes break down. In a presentation in a pre-ECCMID day for this year’s European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID 2023, Copenhagen, 15-19 April), Dr Johanna Takkinen, Principal Expert for Food- and Waterborne Diseases at the European Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC), Stockholm, Sweden, will discuss the drama as the story unfolded, and the lessons learned from an outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium in Kinder Chocolate Eggs traced to a Belgian chocolate factory.

”If not for clear and co-ordinated action across Europe and beyond, there may have been many thousands more children falling ill, and potentially many deaths,” says Dr Takkinen.

Authorities in the UK (the UK Health Security Agency [UKHSA]) first raised the alarm in ECDC-hosted alert platform EpiPulse on 17 February 2022, reporting a cluster of 18 children reported ill with monophasic Salmonella Typhimurium infections since January 2022. Of these, seven were hospitalised and five of the seven had bloody diarrhoea, a serious symptom. “Preliminary interviews of first cases indicated Kinder chocolate products as a possible vehicle of infection. Several countries then began reporting an increasing number of infections with strains the same as the UK outbreak,” explains Dr Takkinen. By 18 February, France had reported its first 2 cases, and by 18 March 59 cases were reported in five countries.

Late in March 2022, ECDC coordinated a teleconference with affected countries when four non-human monophasic S. Typhimurium isolates, genetically close to the human isolates, were identified in a public database. Within a week, these isolates were confirmed originating from one particular Belgian chocolate factory. Prior to this, identifying which factory or factories were involved was difficult since there are four factories within the European Union that produce Kinder chocolate in large quantities. This new microbiological evidence allowed the various agencies to focus their investigations on one factory.

Meanwhile, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in the UK* and the Food Safety Authority (FSA) in Ireland and the UK FSA decided to recall, on April 2**, certain Kinder Chocolate products (including Kinder Surprise Eggs).  On April 8 authorities, now confident the factory was identified, ordered that chocolate factory (Ferrero) closed, and two days later had issued a global recall of products from the factory. The alert reached 130 countries, and in addition to the 401 cases* identified in the EU and UK combined (the UK had the most cases, with 128), further cases were identified in Switzerland (49) and Canada (4) and the USA (1) – giving a global total of 455 cases in 17 countries.  The ECDC and EFSA also published Rapid Outbreak Assessments to keep the public updated.

 

Children under 10 years old made up most of the reported cases (86%), and around two thirds (61%) were female. A number of adults (27), most aged 21-40 and women (18 of the 27), were also infected. Among these adults were a handful of men and women in the age groups 41-70 years. Of 349 analysed cases, 28% were serious enough to be hospitalised, with many experiencing symptoms such as bloody diarrhoea. Of 179 cases interviewed (mostly via family members), 170 (95%) reported eating types of Kinder chocolate products there that were produced in the implicated Belgian factory.

Testing of multiple products from the factory resulted in 81 Salmonella positive samples, with two different strains, in the Belgian factory between 3 December 2021 and 25 January 2022 (most by PCR). The authorities estimated that the original contamination event happened before December 2021; one final product was positively identified as contaminated with Salmonella on 3 December, and  the first case with symptom progression was on 12 December. Due to the time taken to move from production to retail sites, the majority of early cases began to appear in January 2022. The tank for anhydrous milk fat (known as buttermilk) were identified as hot spots for contamination, with the anhydrous milk fat coming from a factory in Italy which tested negative for Salmonella.  The Ferrero factory went through several rounds of cleaning and disinfection before being reallowed to open on 17 June 2022, for three months with conditions, but having its permanent licence for production reissued on 17 September, 2022.

Dr Takkinen says: “Children were at very high risk in this outbreak, with several chocolate products but mostly chocolate eggs affected leading up to Easter. Only through intensive collaboration with multidisciplinary teams of public health experts (microbiologists, epidemiologists) and regular cross-sectoral communication (public health – food safety) were authorities able to prevent a devastating global outbreak.”

She adds: “Also crucial in preventing the escalation of the outbreak was the effective early detection of cases through Salmonella surveillance in the UK, and the early verification of a rapidly evolving multi-country outbreak thanks to prompt responses by countries.”

Dr Johanna Takkinen, Principal Expert for Food- and Waterborne Diseases at the European Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC), Stockholm, Sweden. Please e-mail to arrange interview. E) johanna.takkinen@ecdc.europa.eu / press@ecdc.europa.eu

Tony Kirby in the ECCMID Media Centre. T) +44 7834 385827 E) tony@tonykirby.com

For link to Dr Takkinen’s slides, click here

*For the ECDC update showing case numbers from different countries, click here

**For the Food Standards Agency (UK) notice on this, original published April 2, 2022, click here

This press release is based on a session in the Pre-ECCMID days taking place on February 15 and 16, online. The main ECCMID congress in 15-18 April in Copenhagen, Denmark.