Breaking inert bonds: Multicomponent catalysts pave the way for green chemistry and green carbon science

Peer-Reviewed Publication

INDUSTRIAL CHEMISTRY & MATERIALS

 

IMAGE: THE RECENT PROGRESS IN MULTICOMPONENT CATALYST DESIGN FOR CO2/N2/NOX ELECTROREDUCTION IS SUMMARIZED FROM THREE MODELS. view more 

CREDIT: BUXING HAN AND XIAOFU SUN, INSTITUTE OF CHEMISTRY, CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

The chemical industry has played a significant role in the development of society, but its impact on the environment has become a growing concern. Green chemistry and chemical engineering have opened up possibilities for sustainability through the transformation of renewable feedstocks into environmentally friendly chemicals. However, the inert bonds in molecules such as CO2 and N2 present challenges to their activation and conversion.

Electrochemical conversion provides a promising carbon-neutral route to upgrading green chemical sources with inert bonds to chemicals and fuels under ambient conditions. Multicomponent electrocatalysts have advantages over monocomponent catalysts, such as better stability, increased activity, and expanded reaction processes. Multicomponent electrocatalysts offer a promising solution to the challenge of sustainability in the chemical industry. A group of researchers published their review on Industrial Chemistry & Materials in Jan. 2023.

"The chemical industry has played a crucial role in society's historical evolution, but it also presents emerging environmental concerns and skyrocketing CO2 emissions," said corresponding author Buxing Han, the member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a professor at Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ICCAS). "We were motivated to explore the possibilities of green chemistry and chemical engineering to transform renewable feedstocks, such as CO2 and NOx, into environmentally friendly chemicals, including syngas, hydrocarbons, oxygenates, and ammonia."

"However, these inert bonds, such as the C=O bond in CO2, pose challenges to their activation and conversion. We wanted to explore electrochemical conversion as a universal carbon-neutral route to efficiently upgrade green chemical sources with inert bonds to chemicals and fuels under ambient conditions harnessing clean energy," said co-corresponding author Prof. Xiaofu Sun, ICCAS. "Multicomponent electrocatalysts offer advantages over monocomponent catalysts in terms of stability, activity, and reaction processes. So, we explored the use of multicomponent catalysts in the electroreduction of small molecules such as CO2, N2, and NOx. We developed three models for multicomponent catalysts: Type I, Type II, and Type III, which we discuss in our paper."

Type I involves a non-catalytic active component that can activate or protect another catalytic component. Type II involves all catalytic components providing active intermediates for electrochemical conversion. Type III involves one component providing the substrate for the other through conversion or adsorption.

"Each of these models has its own advantages and disadvantages, depending on the specific reaction and catalyst. We explored the use of these models in our paper to show their effectiveness in the electroreduction of small molecules," Han said. "And we also discussed future directions for applying multicomponent electrocatalysts in the industrial utilization of renewable chemical sources through highly efficient activation and conversion of inert bonds."

What are the key challenges that need to be addressed in the development and utilization of multicomponent electrocatalysts for the activation and conversion of renewable chemical sources? "One key challenge is improving the selectivity and efficiency of the electrocatalysts, as well as increasing their stability and activity," Sun said. "Another challenge is understanding the fundamental mechanisms of the electroreduction reactions and how they are influenced by the multicomponent catalysts."

"More importantly, there is a need for further research and development to scale up and integrate these electrochemical processes into industrial applications. Many promising research projects are undergoing in our lab." Han said.

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Industrial Chemistry & Materials is a peer-reviewed interdisciplinary academic journal published by Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) with APCs currently waived. Icm publishes significant innovative research and major technological breakthroughs in all aspects of industrial chemistry and materials, especially the important innovation of the low-carbon chemical industry, energy, and functional materials.

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JOURNAL

Industrial Chemistry and Materials

DOI

10.1039/D2IM00056C 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Literature review

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Multicomponent catalyst design for CO2/N2/NOx electroreduction

Rooting out how plants control nitrogen use

Peer-Reviewed Publication

TOHOKU UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: A DIAGRAM EXPLAINING THE MECHANISM AT WORK WHEN PLANTS UTILIZE NITROGENOUS FERTILIZERS. view more 

CREDIT: TOHOKU UNIVERSITY

Insights into gene and protein control systems that regulate the use of nitrogen by plant roots could help develop crops that require less nitrogenous fertilizers to produce acceptable yields. Plant biochemist Soichi Kojima and colleagues at Tohoku University discuss their findings and future plans in an article in the journal Frontiers in Plant Science.

Nitrogen is such a crucial nutrient for plants that vast quantities of nitrogen-containing fertilizers are spread on farmlands worldwide. These fertilizers mostly contain nitrogen as ammonium ions (NH4 +), the chemical form in which nitrogen is most readily taken up by plant roots. However, excess nitrogen in the soil and in drainage run-off into lakes and rivers causes serious ecological imbalances, including algal blooms that de-oxygenate water and kill fish and other aquatic life.

"One of the key goals of modern agricultural research is to develop crops that can grow healthily without relying on so much added nitrogen," says Kojima. He adds that there are also significant economic and environmental incentives behind this aim, pointing out: "Energy from vast quantities of fossil fuels is currently needed to convert nitrogen in the air into ammonium for fertilizers."

The researchers worked with the small flowering plant thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana), a common species used for laboratory studies in plant science.

"Taken together, our results reveal, at the genetic level, regulatory mechanisms at work when plants utilize nitrogenous fertilizers in their roots," says Kojima.

The team's next step is to determine if the processes they have identified in Arabidopsis are shared by other plant species, especially major crop plants such as rice and other cereals. If that is confirmed it could open an avenue for plant breeders and geneticists to generate crops that might need much less fertilizer while still producing the yields needed to feed the world. Enhancing the production or activity of the amino acid-making enzymes could be the key to success.

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JOURNAL

Frontiers in Plant Science

DOI

10.3389/fpls.2023.1127006 

ARTICLE TITLE

Coregulation of glutamine synthetase1;2 (GLN1;2) and NADH-dependent glutamate synthase (GLT1) gene expression in Arabidopsis roots in response to ammonium supply

Citizen scientists discover new ‘snug’ in Brunei forest, name it after retiring field centre manager

Peer-Reviewed Publication

PENSOFT PUBLISHERS

 

IMAGE: MICROPARMARION SALLEHI. view more 

CREDIT: PIERRE ESCOUBAS

Semislugs, or ‘snugs’ as they are affectionately known among mollusc researchers, are like the squatters of the snail world: they do carry a home on their back but it is too small to live in. Still, it offers a sort of protection, while not getting in the way of the worm-like physique of the slug. For reasons unknown, on the island of Borneo, which is shared among the countries of Brunei, Malaysia, and Indonesia, most slugs are of the semislug type. The genus Microparmarion there consists of around 10 semislug species, most of which are found in the cooler forests of the mountains. So, when citizen scientists discovered a Microparmarion in the hot lowland forest of Ulu Temburong National Park, Brunei, as part of their expedition, they were surprised.

For the past years, the scientific travel agency Taxon Expeditions, in collaboration with Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) has been organising biodiversity discovery trips for scientists, students, and laypersons to this forest. On the first trip, in 2018, during a night walk, participant Simon Berenyi, who runs an ethical pest control company in the UK, reached up to a dead leaf suspended over the trail. Everybody—the other participants, even the resident snail expert—had ducked and passed underneath this dead leaf without so much as giving it a glance. But something on its surface caught Simon’s eye. “Oi, is that a slug?” he exclaimed, and picked a slimy, well-camouflaged mollusc off it.

At the time, the team’s zoologists already suspected it was a new species – nothing like it had ever been found in this corner of the island. But that single specimen was not enough to publish its description as a new species. Over the years, successive expeditions to the same area came up with several more specimens of the same species, which made it clear that it was really a species never seen before.

On the 2022 expedition, a team composed of UBD students Nurilya Ezzwan and Izzah Hamdani and citizen scientist Harrison Wu from Virginia, USA, finished the description. Using the portable lab that Taxon Expeditions always carries with them, the team studied the animals’ shell, reproductive organs, and DNA, and prepared a paper for the open-access Biodiversity Data Journal, where it was published this week.

As usual on Taxon Expedition trips, on the last night the team voted on the scientific name for the new species. With an overwhelming majority, the ‘snug’ was named after Mr. Md Salleh Abdullah Bat, the field centre supervisor, who would retire just weeks after the team left. Mr. Salleh himself agrees that it is indeed a very fitting farewell gift.

  

A team of citizen scientists in the Brunei forest, searching for slugs and snails.

The locality where Microparmarion sallehi was found.

CREDIT

Pierre Escoubas

Research article:

Schilthuizen M, Berenyi S, Ezzwan NSMN, Hamdani NIAA, Wu H, De Antoni L, Vincenzi L, de Gier W, van Peursen ADP, Njunjić I, Delledonne M, Slik F, Grafe U, Cicuzza D (2023) A new semi-slug of the genus Microparmarion from Brunei, discovered, described and DNA-barcoded on citizen-science 'taxon expeditions' (Gastropoda, Stylommatophora, Ariophantidae). Biodiversity Data Journal 11: e101579. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.11.e101579

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JOURNAL

Biodiversity Data Journal

DOI

10.3897/BDJ.11.e101579 

ARTICLE TITLE

A new semi-slug of the genus Microparmarion from Brunei, discovered, described and DNA-barcoded on citizen-science 'taxon expeditions' (Gastropoda, Stylommatophora, Ariophantidae)

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

10-Apr-2023

Study finds record-breaking rates of sea-level rise along the U.S. Southeast and Gulf coasts

Tulane researchers found rates of sea-level rise of about a half an inch per year since 2010 — three times higher than the global average over the same period

Peer-Reviewed Publication

TULANE UNIVERSITY

Sea levels along the U.S. Southeast and Gulf coasts have been rapidly accelerating, reaching record-breaking rates over the past 12 years, according to a new study led by scientists at Tulane University.

In the study, published in Nature Communications, researchers said they had detected rates of sea-level rise of about a half an inch per year since 2010. They attribute the acceleration to the compounding effects of man-made climate change and natural climate variability. 

“These rapid rates are unprecedented over at least the 20th century and they have been three times higher than the global average over the same period,” says Sönke Dangendorf, lead author and the David and Jane Flowerree Assistant Professor in the Department of River-Coastal Science and Engineering at Tulane.

The authors studied a combination of field and satellite measurements since 1900, pinpointing the individual contributors to the acceleration. 

“We systematically investigated the different causes, such as vertical land motion, ice-mass loss, and air pressure, but none of them could sufficiently explain the recent rate,” said Noah Hendricks, co-author and undergraduate student in Dangendorf’s team at his former institution, Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.

“Instead, we found that the acceleration is a widespread signal that extends from the coasts of the Gulf of Mexico up to Cape Hatteras in North Carolina and into the North Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Seas, which is indicative for changes in the ocean’s density and circulation.” 

Over the past 12 years this entire area, known as the Subtropical Gyre, has been expanding primarily due to changing wind patterns and continued warming. Warmer water masses need more space and thus lead to a rise in sea level.

The scientists suggest that the recent acceleration was an unfortunate superposition of man-made climate change signals and a peak in weather-related variability that lasted over several years. They conclude that the rates will likely return to the more moderate values as predicted by climate models in the coming decades. 

“However, this is no reason to give the all clear,” said Torbjörn Törnqvist, co-author and the Vokes Geology Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Tulane. “These high rates of sea-level rise have put even more stress on these vulnerable coastlines, particularly in Louisiana and Texas where the land is also sinking rapidly.” 

Dangendorf said the “results, once again, demonstrate the urgency of the climate crisis for the Gulf region. We need interdisciplinary and collaborative efforts to sustainably face these challenges.”

Also collaborating on the study were Qiang Sun from Tulane, John Klinck and Tal Ezer from Old Dominion University, Thomas Frederikse from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California , Francisco M. Calafat from the National Oceanography Centre in Liverpool, UK, and Thomas Wahl from the University of Central Florida in Orlando.

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JOURNAL

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-023-37649-9 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Acceleration of U.S. Southeast and Gulf coast sea-level rise amplified by internal climate variability

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

10-Apr-2023

COI STATEMENT

The authors declare no competing interests.

Giant, swimming mouths: Oral dimensions of extant sharks do not accurately predict body size in Dunkleosteus terrelli (Placodermi: Arthrodira)

Peer-Reviewed Publication

PEERJ

 

IMAGE: MODIFICATION OF RECONSTRUCTED PROPORTIONS OF SPECIMENS OF DUNKLEOSTEUS TERRELLI USING THE TOTAL LENGTHS ESTIMATED BY FERRON ET AL. (2017) USING UJP. view more 

CREDIT: CC BY RUSSELL ENGELMAN.

A new study by Case Western Reserve University PhD student Russell Engelman published in PeerJ Life & Environment attempts to address a persistent problem in paleontology – what were the size of Dunkleosteus and other late Devonian arthrodire placoderms. Arthrodire placoderms are extinct fishes with had armor covering their head and part of their torso, but like sharks the rest of their skeleton was made of cartilage, meaning most of their body did not preserve when they became fossilized.

Previous size estimates for Dunkleosteus were largely based on this animal’s mouth and jaws, but these methods were never tested to see if they reliably estimated the size of placoderms. This study sought to test these methods by using data from modern sharks and other fishes and testing if they accurately predicted body size in Dunkleosteus and smaller arthrodire placoderms known from complete remains. Because these smaller species are known from complete remains, they could be used to test whether previous methods accurately predicted body size in arthrodires.

“Length estimates of 5–10 m have been cited for Dunkleosteus for years,” Engelman said, “but no one seems to have checked these methods statistically or tested if they produce reliable or reasonable results in arthrodires.”

It turned out mouth measurements of sharks did not accurately predict the body size of arthrodires. Complete arthrodires always had larger mouths at the same body length as sharks, and this caused mouth measurements of complete arthrodires to produce body length estimates 2–2.5 times their actual size. Dunkleosteus had an unusually large mouth even among arthrodires, further calling into question if the mouth and jaw parts of these smaller forms can be used to estimate the size of this Devonian giant.

Previously estimated lengths for Dunkleosteus also resulted in a biologically illogical body shape when applied to the known dimensions of the fossils. If previous lengths were accurate, the resulting fish would have had an extremely small, shrunken head and hyper-elongate torso even more longer than the proportions seen in most eels, at odds with a previous study published in PeerJ suggesting a shorter body more similar to pelagic sharks. The long shape implied by earlier studies would have also made the animal’s gills so small relative to its body the fish would have likely suffocated. No other arthrodires showed such extreme proportions, even though estimates based on mouth dimensions suggested they should, suggesting these prior length estimates are highly unlikely for Dunkleosteus.

Overall, this suggests mouth dimension in sharks cannot be used to predict the length of arthrodires and most previously cited lengths for large members of this group are overestimates, in agreement with the conclusions of a previous study by the same author. Arthrodires simply have much larger mouths relative to their body length than sharks, with relative mouth widths more similar to predatory catfishes

“Dunkleosteus has often been assumed to function like a great white shark,” Engelman said, “but as we learn more about this fish it might be more accurate to describe it as a mix of shark, grouper, viperfish, tuna, and piraiba [a type of giant predatory Amazonian catfish, well known to fans of Animal Planet’s River Monsters]"

However, although it may be disappointing that these giant Devonian fishes were not as giant as once thought, the recognition these animals have large mouths is still important. As apex predators of the Devonian, accurately estimating the body length and proportions of arthrodires is critical for reconstructing their life habits and the ecology of the Devonian in general. In fact, despite frequently being reconstructed based on sharks, this study notes the large mouths of arthrodires suggest arthrodires could attack much larger prey relative to their body size than living sharks. This suggests while arthrodires have often been reconstructed based on comparisons with sharks, the two may have behaved more differently than previously thought.

"Mouth size is probably the biggest factor in determining the largest prey a fish can eat," Engelman said, "the results of this study suggest arthrodires were hitting far above their weight class."

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JOURNAL

PeerJ

DOI

10.7717/peerj.15131 

ARTICLE TITLE

Giant, swimming mouths: oral dimensions of extant sharks do not accurately predict body size in Dunkleosteus terrelli (Placodermi: Arthrodira)

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

10-Apr-2023

Study shows patterns of opioid prescribing linked to suicide risk

Regions of the U. S. with the greatest decrease in opioid prescriptions found to have the greatest decline in suicide deaths

Peer-Reviewed Publication

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY'S MAILMAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH

Controversy surrounds the effects of policies to reduce opioid prescriptions on suicide rates. There are concerns that rapid reductions in prescription opioids might provoke increased suicide risk among people who become desparate after they are taken off opioids. According to a new study at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and Columbia University Irving Medical Center, however, changes in regional opioid prescribing and regional suicide rates tend to move in the same direction.  This relationship held for rates of opioid prescribing, rates of high-dose prescribing and long-term prescribing, and having multiple opioid prescribers. Until now it was not known whether certain opioid prescribing patterns were associated with particularly elevated suicide risk.

Overall opioid prescribing declined for each of the measures during the 2009–2017 period and the overall rate of total suicide deaths increased from 13.80 to 16.36 per 100,000 persons. By evaluating regional changes, however, the researchers estimate that had opioid prescribing remained constant rather than decreased, the national rate of suicide would have risen even faster than it did.   

The findings are published online in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

Alternately, having any opioid prescriptions and having three or more opioid prescribers were each negatively associated with unintentional opioid-related deaths in people in the age ranges of 10- to 24 and 25- to 44. For some opioid prescribing measures, negative associations were also observed with unintentional overdose deaths involving opioids among younger people.

“The relationship between opioid prescribing and suicide risk is a complex one. This is particularly the case when people have their opioids tapered,” said Mark Olfson, MD, MPH, professor of epidemiology at Columbia School of Public Health and Elizabeth K Dollard Professor of Psychiatry, Medicine and Law at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. ”People can become desperate if their pain is not well controlled. Yet opioids also pose a greater risk of overdose than any other drug class and approximately 40 percent of overdose suicide deaths in the U.S. involve opioids. At a population-level, the national decline in opioid prescribing over last several years appears to have reduced the number of people who died of suicide.”

Analyses were based on data from the 2009–2017 U.S. national IQVIA Longitudinal Prescription Database and National Center for Health Statistics mortality data. Information was based on opioid prescription, with high-dose prescriptions (>120 mg/day morphine equivalents), with long-term prescriptions (>60 consecutive days), and with prescriptions from three or more prescribers. For geographic aggregation, the researchers used states and commuting zones as defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The researchers looked at opioid prescribing measures for four age groups: 10–24, 25–44, 45–64, and 65 years or older, as well as males and females. Because length of opioid prescribing is strongly associated with persistent opioid use the researchers included a measure of percentage with opioid prescriptions for long-term opioid prescriptions measured at greater then or equal to 60 consecutive days. Also, because of the association between having multiple opioid prescribers and opioid overdose risk, Olfson and colleagues included a multiple prescriber measure as the percentage with three or more opioid prescribers during a year.

Among individuals in the 45- to 64-year age group, change in regional suicide deaths was positively associated with change in regional opioid prescriptions and change in percentage with at least one opioid prescription.  Overall, the association with change in suicide deaths was significantly stronger in the West than in the East or the Midwest.

“If opioid prescribing per capita had held constant from 2009 to 2017, there would have been an estimated 10.5 percent more suicide deaths involving opioids in 2017,” noted Olfson. The corresponding estimated percentage increases in opioid-related suicide deaths were 15 percent, 9 percent, 9 percent, and 19 percent, respectively, for at least one opioid prescription, high-dose prescriptions, long-term prescriptions, and three or more opioid prescribers.

In the U.S., geographic regions with the greatest declines in people filling opioid prescriptions also tended to have the greatest declines in total suicide deaths. Had the national decline in opioid prescriptions between 2009 and 2017 not occurred, there would have been 3 percent more suicide deaths overall in the U.S. according to the research team. For four of five prescribing measures, decreasing regional opioid prescriptions were also related to declining total opioid-related overdose deaths.

“Although the present population-level research cannot establish that opioid prescriptions cause deaths by suicide, the results are consistent with the view that opioid prescription policies and practices should give careful attention to possible connections between prescription opioids and suicide risk,” noted Olfson.

Co-authors are Timothy Waidmann, and Vincent Pancini, Urban Institute, Health Policy Center, Washington, D.C.; Marissa King, University of Pennsylvania; and Michael Schoenbaum, NIMH, Bethesda.

The study was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, grant 1R01DA044981.

The authors report no financial relationships with commercial interests.

Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

Founded in 1922, the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health pursues an agenda of research, education, and service to address the critical and complex public health issues affecting New Yorkers, the nation and the world. The Columbia Mailman School is the fourth largest recipient of NIH grants among schools of public health. Its nearly 300 multi-disciplinary faculty members work in more than 100 countries around the world, addressing such issues as preventing infectious and chronic diseases, environmental health, maternal and child health, health policy, climate change and health, and public health preparedness. It is a leader in public health education with more than 1,300 graduate students from 55 nations pursuing a variety of master’s and doctoral degree programs. The Columbia Mailman School is also home to numerous world-renowned research centers, including ICAP and the Center for Infection and Immunity. For more information, please visit www.mailman.columbia.edu.

JOURNAL

American Journal of Psychiatry

DOI

10.1176/appi.ajp.22020102 

ARTICLE TITLE

A study of opioid prescriptions and mortality found population-level evidence linking opioid prescribing to suicide risk

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

11-Apr-2023

New UK data system will help predict and prevent opioid overdoses in Kentucky

Grant and Award Announcement

UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY

 

IMAGE: CO-LED BY SVETLA SLAVOVA AND JEFF TALBERT, RADOR-KY UTILIZE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TO HELP PREDICT AND PREVENT OPIOID OVERDOSES. view more 

CREDIT: ARDEN BARNES | UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY PHOTO.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 10, 2023) — University of Kentucky researchers are creating an innovative statewide surveillance system to inform prevention and response efforts aimed at reducing the burden of opioid use disorder in Kentucky.

The Rapid Actionable Data for Opioid Response in Kentucky (RADOR-KY) will use data from federal, state, and local sources to guide evidence-based practices aimed at preventing opioid overdoses in the Commonwealth. Phase one of the project is supported by a three-year $3.1 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).

Driven by the COVID-19 pandemic and illegally manufactured fentanyl, drug overdose deaths in the U.S. increased to historic levels in 2021. Kentucky has been hit hard by the opioid epidemic. Overdose deaths reached an all-time high of 2,250, with 90% of those deaths involving an opioid.

Co-led by Svetla Slavova, Ph.D., associate professor in the College of Public Health, and Jeff Talbert, Ph.D., professor in the College of Medicine and College of Pharmacy, RADOR-KY will use a comprehensive set of data needed to effectively monitor and respond to the rapidly evolving opioid overdose crisis.

The system will use advanced algorithms to rapidly process data and help predict potential overdose surges using artificial intelligence.

“This unique, first-of-its-kind system will not only track and monitor overdose cases but use predictive analytics and dashboards for fast dissemination of analytical results to keep state agencies and local stakeholders on the frontlines of the opioid epidemic in Kentucky a step ahead,” said Slavova, who also serves as interim associate dean for research in the College of Public Health.

RADOR-KY will use data from multiple sources, including the Kentucky Office of Vital Statistics, syndromic surveillance, emergency medical services, prescription drug monitoring, Medicaid claims and drug seizure records. It will also track measures related to evidence-based practices such as treatment for opioid use disorder, overdose education and the distribution of naloxone, a life-saving medication that rapidly reverses an opioid overdose.

The project will leverage the expertise of UK research centers including the Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center, the Center on Drug and Alcohol Research, and the Institute for Biomedical Informatics. It also builds upon the expertise and experience gained from UK's work on the HEALing Communities Study (HCS).

“We’ve harnessed the power of our data processing capabilities at UK with the framework and experience gained from our work on the HEALing Communities Study, which has also shown that addressing this public health crisis requires working across disciplines,” said Talbert, who also directs the Institute for Biomedical Informatics.

“The HEALing Communities Study has been an exemplar of how a state and a university can work together and one of the deciding factors for receiving this award,” said HCS principal investigator Sharon Walsh, Ph.D., a professor in UK’s College of Medicine and College of Pharmacy and director for the Center on Drug and Alcohol Research.

Walsh leads the project’s substance use disorder team, which will advise on the content of evidence-based practices and state and local partners who are end users of the system.

Katherine Marks, Ph.D., a UK College of Medicine research assistant professor who serves as project director for the Kentucky Opioid Response Effort (KORE) within the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, is the project’s state government liaison.

Marks says RADOR-KY’s faster data processing, predictive analytics and inclusion of evidence-based practices will help the state take more strategic action.

“The opportunity for state and community partners to have readily available access to data so we can take action and evaluate how we’re doing in our response is a remarkable innovation,” said Marks. “This is a wonderful demonstration of the collaborative potential between the state and university expertise. It’s also yet another example of how UK is working as the University for Kentucky.” 

An end-user advisory group, including partners in state government and local communities, will also guide the development of RADOR-KY. To advance the efforts to mitigate the opioid epidemic across the U.S. the team also plans to share programming code and algorithms in a public repository.

This project is supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R01DA057605. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $501 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.   

In 2022, UK was ranked by Forbes as one of the “Best Employers for New Grads” and named a “Diversity Champion” by INSIGHT into Diversity, a testament to our commitment to advance Kentucky and create a community of belonging for everyone. While our mission looks different in many ways than it did in 1865, the vision of service to our Commonwealth and the world remains the same. We are the University for Kentucky.  

What is it good for? Absolutely one thing. Luna moths use their tails solely for bat evasion

Peer-Reviewed Publication

FLORIDA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

 

IMAGE: THE LONG, TRAILING TAILS OF LUNA MOTHS APPEAR TO HAVE ONE, SINGLE FUNCTION AND FEW, IF ANY, DRAWBACKS. view more 

CREDIT: BAT ILLUSTRATION FROM "VOYAGE DANS L'AMÉRIQUE MÉRIDIONALE" (1846-1847) BY ALCIDE D'ORBIGNY. MOTH ILLUSTRATION FROM "ILLUSTRATIONS OF EXOTIC ENTOMOLOGY," (1837) BY DRU DRURY.

In a pair of complementary studies, researchers took a close look at Luna moth (Actias luna) tails through the eyes of birds and female moths to test the tails’ role in predation and sexual selection. Scientists have known for about a decade that Luna moths — and other related silkmoths — use their long, trailing tails to misdirect bat attacks.

“They have projections off the back of the hindwing that end in twisted, cupped paddles,” said Juliette Rubin, a doctoral student at the Florida Museum of Natural History and lead author of both studies. “From experimental work with bats and moths in a flight room, we’ve found that these structures seem to reflect bat sonar in such a way that bats often aim their attacks at the tails instead of the main body.”

Traits that evolve for one specific function can often be co-opted by natural selection for another, and Rubin wondered whether the twisted tails of Luna moths might come with any additional benefits or hidden costs.

Male Luna moths doff their tails, retain their charm

Silkmoths have independently evolved tails on multiple occasions across three continents, and the appendages can vary significantly in length. Hind wings in some species can extend to more than twice the size of the moth’s wingspan, and the longer the tail, the more likely a moth will successfully thwart a prowling bat.

But far from being drab, utilitarian decoys meant only for sonar-sensing bats, silkmoth tails are often visually stunning, like decorative streamers trailing behind a kite. Across the animal and plant kingdoms, many of the most colorful and alluring structures are used to attract mates or pollinators, and scientists suspected the same might be true of silkmoth tails.

This type of dual function for a single trait isn’t without precedent. The vivid colors of strawberry poison dart frogs (Oophaga pumilio) both deter predators and help males attract mates; male deer and other ungulates use their antlers to fight off rivals and signal their vigor to females; and moths that use clicks or chirruping sounds to disrupt bat echolocation can compose duets using the same sounds during courtship.

Luna moths have neither mouths to produce sound nor ears to hear it, but they do have sensitive eyes and powerful scent-detecting antennae. When female Luna moths are ready to mate, they perch in one place and emit a pheromone, a single molecule of which is enough to trigger a male antenna. The males of closely related Indian moon moths (Actias selene) can find females from more than six miles away by following the pheromone plume to its source.

“We don’t know how many males are traveling to a female each night,” Rubin said. “It’s entirely possible she’s able to call in multiple suitors and potentially have her pick.”

Rubin put this idea to the test, setting up mating experiments in which a female Luna moth was enclosed in a flight box with two males: one with normal hind wings, and one with its tails removed.

Initially, the data seemed to suggest that females preferred males whose wings remained intact, but additional controlled experiments demonstrated that this was more likely an incidental effect of the tail removal. During trials in which both males had their wings clipped, and one had the tails glued back on, there was no difference in their mating success.

Do tails make Luna moths invisible to bats but conspicuous to birds?

Having demonstrated tail wings likely weren’t conferring any additional benefits beyond survival, Rubin wanted to see whether they had any obvious drawbacks. Their long tails effectively throw off pursuing bats by creating a decoy target, but bats aren’t the only adversaries Luna moths have to avoid. Their electric green tails with bright, pink parfait borders might make Luna moths noticeable to birds and other visually oriented predators that hunt during the day.

Other organisms contend with similar tradeoffs. The bioluminescent displays of fireflies make it easier for males to locate potential mates, but it also makes them stand out to nocturnal frogs and geckoes.

Luna moths live incredibly short lives, during which they can afford to lose a tail or two. Once they emerge from their cocoons, the moths have about a week to find a mate and reproduce before dying. “This creates a very intense period of adulthood, where surviving the night is of the utmost importance,” Rubin said.

Luna moths are mostly inactive during the day, reducing their chances of being nabbed midair. If they don’t do a good enough job concealing themselves, however, they run the risk of not surviving to nightfall.

Rubin wanted to know if their visually elaborate tails put Luna moths at a disadvantage in this high-stakes game of hide-and-seek. To find out, she and her colleagues wrapped mealworms in pastry dough in the shape and size of Luna moth bodies, to which they attached real wings, half of which had tails. They partially hid these moth replicas among branches and leaves in an aviary, then introduced a succession of Carolina wrens (Thryothorus ludovicianus), recording how many of the snacks the birds located and ate.

The results conclusively indicate that the tails had no effect on the birds’ ability to locate the fake moths. This might seem odd to us, Rubin said, because we’re such visually oriented animals. But there’s evidence that suggests birds might rely on search images when trying to distinguish food items from patterns in the background.

Humans do this too. When trying to complete a Where’s Waldo puzzle, people often look for the characteristic red, horizontal lines of Waldo’s shirt while scanning across the page. It’s possible that Luna moth tails don’t match the typical moth and butterfly mold that birds expect to see while foraging, the equivalent of Waldo wearing a solid red shirt rather than his signature stripes.

While not indicative of all silkmoths, the studies suggest that these stunning and complex structures evolved for a single function in Luna moths.

“When we see these really obvious physical features in animals, we’re often drawn into stories we’ve heard about them,” Rubin said. “One is that conspicuous traits are for attracting mates or competing with rivals, and another is that these very showy traits must come with a cost. Both of these studies show it’s really important to test those assumptions. A trait that’s obvious to us, as visual creatures, might not stand out to the predators that hunt them, and the traits that we think are dynamic and alluring might not seem that way to a potential mate.”

The studies were published in the journals Biology Letters and Behavioral Ecology. Akito Kawahara of the Florida Museum of Natural History, and Nich Martin and Kathryn Sieving of the University of Florida are also co-authors.

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JOURNAL

Behavioral Ecology

DOI

10.1093/beheco/arad019 

ARTICLE TITLE

Sexual selection does not drive hindwing tail elaboration in a moon moth, Actias luna

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

6-Apr-2023