Your thoughts can harm your neck and back during lifting tasks

In lab, contradictory feedback linked to increased spine loading

Peer-Reviewed Publication

OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The mental distress of cognitive dissonance – encountering information that conflicts with how we act or what we believe – can lead to added pressure on the neck and low back during lifting and lowering tasks, new research suggests.

When study participants were told they were performing poorly in a precision lowering experiment in the lab, after initially being told they were doing well, their movements were linked to increased loads on vertebrae in their neck and low back.

Results showed that the higher the cognitive dissonance score, the greater the extent of loading on the upper and lower parts of the spine.

The finding suggests cognitive dissonance may be a previously unidentified risk factor for neck and low back pain, which could have implications for risk prevention in the workplace, according to researchers.

“This increased spine loading occurred under just one condition with a fairly light load – you can imagine what this would be like with more complex tasks or higher loads,” said senior author William Marras, executive director of the Spine Research Institute at The Ohio State University. “Basically, the study scratched the surface of showing there’s something to this.”

The research was published recently in the journal Ergonomics.

Marras’ lab has been studying daily living and occupational forces on the spine for decades. About 20 years ago, he found that psychological stress could influence spine biomechanics, using a study design that involved having a fake argument with a graduate student in front of research participants.

“We found that in certain personality types, the loads in the spine increased by up to 35%,” Marras said. “We ended up finding that when you’re under that kind of psychosocial stress, what you tend to do is what we call co-activate muscles in your torso. It creates this tug of war in the muscles because you’re always tense.

“In this study, to get at that mind-body connection, we decided to look at the way people think and, with cognitive dissonance, when people are disturbed by their thoughts.”

Seventeen research participants – nine men and eight women aged 19-44 – completed three phases of an experiment in which they placed a light-weight box within a square on a surface that was moved left and right, up and down. After a short practice run, researchers gave almost exclusively positive feedback during the first of two 45-minute trial blocks. During the second, the feedback increasingly suggested participants were performing in an unsatisfactory way.

To arrive at a cognitive dissonance score for each participant, changes during the experiment to blood pressure and heart rate variability were combined with responses to two questionnaires assessing discomfort levels as well as positive and negative affect – feeling strong and inspired versus distressed and ashamed.

Wearable sensors and motion-capture technology were used to detect peak spinal loads in the neck and low back: both compression of vertebrae and vertebral movement, or shear, from side to side (lateral) and forward and back (A/P).

Statistical modeling showed that, on average, peak spinal loads on cervical vertebrae in the neck were 11.1% higher in compression, 9.4% higher in A/P shear and 19.3% higher in lateral shear during the negative-feedback trial block compared to the baseline measures from the practice run. Peak loading in the lumbar region of the low back – an area that bears the brunt of any spinal loading – increased by 1.7% in compression and 2.2% in shear during the final trial block.

“Part of the motivation here was to see whether cognitive dissonance can manifest itself not only in the low back – we thought we’d find it there, but we didn’t know what we’d find in the neck. We did find a pretty strong response in the neck,” said Marras, a professor of integrated systems engineering with College of Medicine academic appointments in neurosurgery, orthopaedics and physical medicine and rehabilitation.

“Our tolerance to shear is much, much lower than it is to compression, so that’s why that’s important,” he said. “A small percentage of load is no big deal for one time. But think about when you’re working day in and day out, and you’re in a job where you’re doing this 40 hours a week – that could be significant, and be the difference between a disorder and not having a disorder.”

Marras is also principal investigator on a federally funded multi-institution clinical trial assessing different treatments for low back pain that range from medication to exercise to cognitive behavioral therapy.

“We’re trying to unravel this onion and understand all the different things that affect spine disorders because it’s really, really complex,” he said. “Just like the whole system has got to be right for a car to run correctly, we’re learning that that’s the way it is with the spine. You could be in physically great shape, but if you’re not thinking correctly or appropriately, or you have all these mental irregularities, like cognitive dissonance, that will affect the system. And until you get that right, you’re not going to be right.

“We’re looking for causal pathways. And now we can say cognitive dissonance plays a role and here’s how it works.”

This research was supported by internal Spine Research Institute funds. Co-authors included first author Eric Weston, a former integrated systems engineering graduate student at Ohio State; Afton Hassett of the University of Michigan; and Safdar Khan and Tristan Weaver of Ohio State.

#

Contact: William Marras, Marras.1@osu.edu

Written by Emily Caldwell, Caldwell.151@osu.edu; 614-292-8152

 

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JOURNAL

Ergonomics

DOI

10.1080/00140139.2023.2186323 

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Cognitive dissonance increases spine loading in the neck and low back

Sudden infant death syndrome may have biologic cause

Peer-Reviewed Publication

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS USA

Sudden infant death syndrome is a case where the death of an apparently healthy infant before their first birthday remains unexplained even after thorough investigation. Death generally seems to occur when infants are sleeping. While rare, it is the leading post-neonatal infant death in the United States today, occurring in 103 out of 100,000 live births a year. Despite the initial success of national public health campaigns promoting safe sleep environments and healthier sleep positions in infants in the 1990s in the United States, rates of cases have remained the same over the last three decades.

Researchers here collected tissue from the San Diego Medical Examiner’s Office related to infant deaths between 2004 and 2011. Researchers examined the brain stems of 70 infants who died during the period and tested them for consistent abnormalities.

They find that the serotonin 2A/C receptor is altered in sudden infant death cases compared to control cases of infant deaths. Previous research in rodents has shown that 2A/C receptor signaling contributes to arousal and autoresuscitation, protecting brain oxygen status during sleep. This new research supports the idea that a biological abnormality in some infants makes them vulnerable to death under certain circumstances.

The investigators here believe that sudden infant death syndrome occurs when three things happen together: a child is in a critical period of cardiorespiratory development in their first year, the child faces an outside stressor like a face-down sleep position or sharing a bed, and the child has a biological abnormality that makes them vulnerable to respiratory challenges while sleeping.

“The work presented builds upon previous work by our laboratory and others showing abnormalities in the serotonergic system of some SIDS infants,” said the paper’s lead author, Robin Haynes. “Although we have identified abnormalities in the serotonin 2A/C receptor in SIDS, the relationship between the abnormalities and cause of death remains unknown. Much work remains in determining the consequence of abnormalities in this receptor in the context of a larger network of serotonin and non-serotonin receptors that protect vital functions in cardiac and respiratory control when challenged. Currently, we have no means to identify infants with biological abnormalities in the serotonergic system. Thus, adherence to safe-sleep practices remains critical.”

The paper, “Altered 5-HT2A/C receptor binding in the medulla oblongata in the sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS): part I. Tissue-based evidence for serotonin receptor signaling abnormalities in cardiorespiratory- and arousal-related circuits,” will be available (at midnight on May 25th) at: https://doi.org/10.1093/jnen/nlad030.

Direct correspondence to: 
Robin L. Haynes
CJ Murphy Laboratory for SIDS Research
Boston Children’s Hospital
300 Longwood Avenue
Boston, MA 02115
robin.haynes@childrens.harvard.edu

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

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JOURNAL

Journal of Neuropathology & Experimental Neurology

DOI

10.1093/jnen/nlad030 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Altered 5-HT2A/C receptor binding in the medulla oblongata in the sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS): part I. Tissue-based evidence for serotonin receptor signaling abnormalities in cardiorespiratory- and arousal-related circuits

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

25-May-2023

Keeping time: Understanding the master clock in the brain

Researchers from the University of Tsukuba find a molecular pathway that controls sleep rhythms and homeostasis

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF TSUKUBA

Tsukuba, Japan—Most living creatures exhibit a circadian rhythm, an internal clock that repeats around every 24 hours. Now, researchers from Japan have found new details about the molecular processes that govern sleep/wake rhythms in mice.

In a recently published study, researchers from the University of Tsukuba have revealed that a key molecule involved in sleep homeostasis (called SIK3 or salt-inducible kinase 3) also plays a critical role in circadian behavior.

Animals are able to adapt to the 24-hour cycle of light and dark in terms of both behavior and physiology via changes in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), which is the brain's master clock that synchronizes the various rhythms in the body. However, the biological activities within the SCN that induce time-specific wakefulness have not been fully characterized; the research team aimed to address this.

"Most animals show a peak in activity at a specific point in the circadian cycle," explains lead author of the study Professor Masashi Yanagisawa. "Because the SCN has been found to regulate sleep and wakefulness at certain times of the day, we wanted to investigate the distinct neurons that control this process."

To do this, the research team genetically manipulated levels of SIK3 in specific neuron groups in the SCN of mice. Then, they examined sleep and circadian behaviors in the mice, such as when and for how long the mice exhibited activity with respect to the light-dark cycle.

"We found that SIK3 in the SCN can influence circadian cycle length and the timing of peak arousal activity, without changing the daily sleep amount," says Professor Yanagisawa.

The research team previously reported that SIK3 interacts with LKB1 (an upstream molecule of SIK3) and HDAC4 (an important target of SIK3) in glutamatergic neurons to regulate the amount and depth of sleep. Now, they have found that the SIK3-HDAC4 pathway modulates the length of the circadian period through NMS-producing neurons, and contributes to the sleep/wake rhythm.

The length of the behavioral period and the timing of peak activity are important components of the circadian rhythm. Given the similarities between the circadian systems of different mammals, new information about how this system works in mice could lead to new treatments for sleep and circadian rhythm disorders in humans.

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This work was supported by the World Premier International Research Center Initiative (WPI) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI), Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology (CREST), Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED), JSPS DC2 grant, University of Tsukuba Basic Research Support Program Type A, and Funding Program for World-Leading Innovative R&D on Science and Technology (FIRST Program).
 

Original Paper

Title of original paper:
SIK3-HDAC4 in the suprachiasmatic nucleus regulates the timing of arousal at the dark onset and circadian period in mice

Journal:
PNAS

DOI:
10.1073/pnas.2218209120

Correspondence

Professor YANAGISAWA Masashi
International Institute for Integrative Sleep Medicine (WPI-IIIS), University of Tsukuba

Related Link

International Institute for Integrative Sleep Medicine (WPI-IIIS)

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JOURNAL

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI

10.1073/pnas.2218209120 

ARTICLE TITLE

SIK3–HDAC4 in the suprachiasmatic nucleus regulates the timing of arousal at the dark onset and circadian period in mice

New study provides novel insights into the cosmic evolution of amino acids

Scientists perform computational simulations for biological molecules detected in meteorites to clarify the origin of life on Earth.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF TSUKUBA

All biological amino acids on Earth appear exclusively in their left-handed form, but the reason underlying this observation is elusive. Recently, scientists from Japan uncovered new clues about the cosmic origin of this asymmetry. Based on the optical properties of amino acids found on the Murchison meteorite, they conducted physics-based simulations, revealing that the precursors to the biological amino acids may have determined the amino acid chirality during the early phase of galactic evolution.

If you look at your hands, you will notice that they are mirror images of each other. However, no matter how hard you try to flip and rotate one hand, you will never be able to superimpose it perfectly over the other. Many molecules have a similar property called "chirality," which means that the "left-handed" (L) version of a molecule cannot be superimposed onto its "right-handed" (D) mirror image version. Even though both versions of a chiral molecule, called "enantiomers," have the same chemical formula, the way they interact with other molecules, especially with other chiral molecules, can vary immensely.

Interestingly, one of the many mysteries surrounding the origin of life as we know it has to do with chirality. It turns out that biological amino acids (AAs)—the building blocks of proteins—on Earth appear only in one of their two possible enantiomeric forms, namely the L-form. However, if you synthesize AAs artificially, both L and D forms are produced in equal amounts. This suggests that, at some early point in the past, L-AAs must have come to dominate a hetero-chiral world. This phenomenon is known as "chiral symmetry breaking."

Against this backdrop, a research team led by Assistant Professor Mitsuo Shoji from University of Tsukuba, Japan, conducted a study aimed at solving this mystery. As explained in their paper published in The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, the team sought to find evidence supporting the cosmic origin of the homochirality of AAs on Earth, as well as iron out some inconsistencies and contradictions in our previous understanding.

"The idea that homochirality may have originated in space was suggested after AAs were found in the Murchison meteorite that fell in Australia in 1969," explains Dr. Shoji. Curiously enough, in the samples obtained from this meteorite, each of the L-enantiomers was more prevalent than its D-enantiomer counterpart. One popular explanation for this suggests that the asymmetry was induced by ultraviolet circularly polarized light (CPL) in the star-forming regions of our galaxy. Scientists verified that this type of radiation can, indeed, induce asymmetric photochemical reactions that, given enough time, would favor the production of L-AAs over D-AAs. However, the absorption properties of the AA isovaline are opposite to those of the other AAs, meaning that the UV-based explanation alone is either insufficient or incorrect.

Against this backdrop, Dr. Shoji's team pursued an alternate hypothesis. Instead of far-UV radiation, they hypothesized that the chiral asymmetry was, in fact, induced specifically by the CP Lyman-α (Lyα) emission line, a spectral line of hydrogen atom that permeated the early Milky Way. Moreover, instead of focusing only on photoreactions in AAs, the researchers investigated the possibility of the chiral asymmetry starting in the precursors to the AAs, namely amino propanals (APs) and amino nitriles (ANs).

Through quantum mechanical calculations, the team analyzed Lyα-induced reactions for producing AAs along the chemical pathway adopted in Strecker synthesis. They then noted the ratios of L- to D-enantiomers of AAs, APs, and ANs at each step of the process.

The results showed that L-enantiomers of ANs are preferentially formed under right-handed CP (R-CP) Lyα irradiation, with their enantiomeric ratios matching those for the corresponding AAs. "Taken together, our findings suggest that ANs underlie the origin of the homochirality," remarks Dr. Shoji. "More specifically, irradiating AN precursors with R-CP Lyα radiation lead to a higher ratio of L-enantiomers. The subsequent predominance of L-AAs is possible via reactions induced by water molecules and heat."

The study thus brings us one step closer to understanding the complex history of our own biochemistry. The team emphasizes that more studies focused on ANs need to be conducted on future samples from asteroids and comets to validate their findings. "Further analyses and theoretical investigations of ANs and other prebiotic molecules related to sugars and nucleobases will provide new insights into the chemical evolution of molecules and, in turn, the origin of life," concludes an optimistic Dr. Shoji.

Be sure to stay tuned as scientists continue to piece together this one grand puzzle called life !

###
This study has been supported by research projects (1) JST, PRESTO grant number JPMJPR19G6, Japan, and (2) JSPS KAKENHI grant numbers 19H00697, 20H05453, 20H05088, 22H00347, and 22H04916. Computational resources were partially supported by Multidisciplinary Cooperative Research Program in CCS, University of Tsukuba. The authors also thank the HPC Center at the University of Strasbourg funded by the Equipex Equip@Meso project and the CPER Alsacalcul/Big Data and the Grand Equipement National de Calcul Intensif (GENCI) under allocations DARI A0120906092 and A0140906092.
 

Original Paper

Title of original paper:
Enantiomeric Excesses of Aminonitrile Precursors Determine the Homochirality of Amino Acids

Journal:
The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

DOI:
10.1021/acs.jpclett.2c03862

Correspondence

Assistant Professor SHOJI Mitsuo
Center for Computational Sciences (CCS), University of Tsukuba

Related Link

Center for Computational Sciences (CCS)

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JOURNAL

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

DOI

10.1021/acs.jpclett.2c03862 

ARTICLE TITLE

Enantiomeric Excesses of Aminonitrile Precursors Determine the Homochirality of Amino Acids

Helium nuclei research advances our understanding of cosmic ray origin and propagation

The latest observations from Low Earth Orbit with the International Space Station provide further evidence of spectral hardening and softening of cosmic ray particles

Peer-Reviewed Publication

WASEDA UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: COSMIC RAY HELIUM PARTICLES WERE FOUND TO FOLLOW A DOUBLE BROKEN POWER LAW, WITH SPECTRAL HARDENING FROM 1.3 TEV AND SOFTENING FROM 30 TEV view more 

CREDIT: WASEDA UNIVERSITY

Much of our understanding of the Universe and its mysterious phenomena is based on theoretical interpretations. In order to deepen the understanding of distant objects and energetic phenomena, astronomers are looking at cosmic rays, which are high-energy charged particles composed of protons, electrons, atomic nuclei, and other subatomic particles. Such studies have revealed that cosmic rays contain all the elements known to us in the periodic table, suggesting that these elements originate from stars and high-energy events such as supernovae. Additionally, due to their charged nature, the path of cosmic rays through space is influenced by the magnetic fields of interstellar phenomena and objects.

Detailed observations of cosmic rays can, thus, not only shed light on the origins of these particles but also decode the existence of high-energy objects and phenomena such as supernova remnants, pulsars, and even dark matter. In an effort to better observe high-energy radiations, Japan, Italy, and USA collaboratively established the CALorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET) on the International Space Station in 2015.

In 2018, observations of the cosmic ray proton spectrum from 50 GeV to 10 TeV revealed that the particle flux of protons at high energies was significantly higher than expected. These results deviated from the conventional cosmic ray acceleration and propagation models that assume a “single power-law distribution,” wherein the number of particles decrease with increasing energy.

Consequently, in a study published in 2022, the CALET team, including researchers from Waseda University, found cosmic ray protons in the energy range of 50 GeV to 60 TeV to follow a “Double Broken Power Law.” This law assumes that the number of high-energy particles initially increase until 10 TeV (known as spectral hardening) and then decrease with an increase in energy (known as spectral softening).

Extending these observations further, the team has now found similar trends of spectral hardening and softening in the cosmic ray helium spectrum captured over a broad range of energy, from 40 GeV to 250 TeV.

The study, published in the journal Physical Review Letters on 27 April, 2023, was led by Associate Professor Kazuyoshi Kobayashi from Waseda University, Japan, along with contributions from Professor Emeritus Shoji Torii, Principal Investigator of the CALET project, also affiliated with Waseda University, and Research Assistant Paolo Brogi from the University of Siena in Italy.

“CALET has successfully observed energy spectral structure of cosmic ray helium, especially spectral hardening starting from around 1.3 TeV, and the tendency of softening starting from around 30 TeV,” says Kobayashi.

These observations are based on data collected by CALET aboard the International Space Station (ISS) between 2015 to 2022. Representing the largest energy range to date for cosmic helium nuclei particles, these observations provide additional evidence for deviation of the particle flux from the single power-law model. The researchers noticed that deviation from the expected power-law distribution was more than eight standard deviations away from the mean, indicating a very low probability of this deviation occurring by chance.

Notably, the initial spectral hardening observed in this data suggests that there may be unique sources or mechanisms that are responsible for accelerating and propagating the helium nuclei to high energies. The discovery of these spectral features is also supported by recent observations from the Dark Matter Particle Explorer, and questions our current understanding of the origin and nature of cosmic rays.

“These results would significantly contribute to the understanding of cosmic ray acceleration in the supernova remnant and propagation mechanism,” says Torii.

These findings undoubtedly enhance our understanding of the Universe. Even as we prepare for manned missions to the Moon and Mars, the energy distribution of cosmic ray particles can also provide further insight into the radiation environment in space and its effects on astronauts.

 

***

100 kW hydrogen fuel cell - digital twin in operation - using green hydrogen and waste plastic hydrogen

Aiming to achieve both carbon neutrality and sustainable economic growth

Business Announcement

TOKYO INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

 

IMAGE: THE PHOTOS OF THE PLATFORM "100 KW HYDROGEN FUEL CELL - DIGITAL TWIN" FOR OPTIMIZING THE DESIGN AND CONTROL OF A 100 KW HYDROGEN FUEL CELL THAT SEEKS TO BALANCE CARBON NEUTRALITY AND ECONOMIC ADVANTAGE BY MIXING RENEWABLE ENERGY. HYDROGEN/WASTE PLASTIC HYDROGEN. view more 

CREDIT: PROFESSOR MANABU IHARA OF TOKYO INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

The Tokyo Tech InfoSyEnergy Research and Education Consortium, the Tokyo Tech Academy of Energy and Informatics (Head of Consortium and Academy Director Manabu Ihara, Prof.), and several companies such as Toshiba Corporation and Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions Corporation are jointly developing a platform "100 kW hydrogen fuel cell - digital twin" for optimizing the design and control of a 100 kw hydrogen fuel cell that seeks to balance carbon neutrality and economic advantage by mixing renewable energy hydrogen/waste plastic hydrogen. They installed the platform in the Tokyo Tech Environmental Energy Innovation (EEI) Building and started operation of the platform.

Hydrogen generated by renewable energy is expected to contribute to carbon neutrality. However, at the current time, introduction is not progressing as expected due to reasons such as the high cost of water electrolyzer and the incompatibility of electrolyzer sizes. Therefore, in order to increase incentives for introducing hydrogen as a technology for carbon neutrality, this system produces hydrogen by supplying electricity from solar cells in the EEI Building to a small-capacity water electrolyzer. It also mixes an appropriate ratio of hydrogen produced from waste plastic (produced by thermal decomposition of waste plastic, steam reforming, shift reaction, and refining process; Resonac Holdings Corporation) and supplies it to the hydrogen fuel cell. Power from the fuel cell will be supplied to the EEI Building and campus, and waste heat will be supplied to the EEI Building's air conditioning system (central heating and cooling) for advanced utilization of waste heat.

Aiming for both carbon neutrality and sustainable economic growth, the system is the first in the world to mix renewable energy hydrogen and waste plastic hydrogen, supply the mixture to a fuel cell, and connect it to the building's air conditioning system for advanced use of electricity and heat. Moving forward, they aim to establish an urban hydrogen energy utilization model that appropriately mixes and optimizes global hydrogen and local hydrogen.

The system is connected to the intelligent energy system Ene-Swallow® that performs peak cut control at the Ookayama Campus of Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech). Its detailed real-time operation data is accumulated in a database and used as energy big data for joint research and education between industry and academia. Furthermore, the mixing ratio of renewable energy hydrogen and waste plastic hydrogen to be supplied to the fuel cell can be controlled in real time from Ene-Swallow®. In the future, the acquisition of detailed data will make it possible to design and control the device capacity of the system. As a carbon neutral digital twin (Ene-Swallow® Digital Twin), a platform that can be integrated and linked with the aim of achieving carbon neutral and sustainable economic growth, they will work for further advancement and promotion as part of R&D for "Carbon-neutral digital twin with the core of energy bigdata" in the JST-MIRAI Program "Advanced Intelligent Information Society" mission area (Program Officer: Eisaku Maeda).

Overview of exhaust heat utilization in 100 kW hydrogen fuel cell system that supplies a mixture of renewable energy hydrogen and waste plastic hydrogen / Overview of connected energy devices  

Overview of Ene-Swallow® Digital Twin  

CREDIT

Professor Manabu Ihara of Tokyo Institute of Technology

• Manabu Ihara - Creating an ambient energy society - Fighting global warming and growing the economy can go together! | Research Stories | Research
• Environmental Energy Innovation Building | Research Stories | Research
• Tokyo Tech's Ookayama campus goes 'mega-solar' as part of the smart grid 'Ene-Swallow ver.3' project | Tokyo Tech News
• Ihara-Manzhos laboratory

###

About Tokyo Institute of Technology
Tokyo Tech stands at the forefront of research and higher education as the leading university
for science and technology in Japan. Tokyo Tech researchers excel in fields ranging from
materials science to biology, computer science, and physics. Founded in 1881, Tokyo Tech
hosts over 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students per year, who develop into scientific
leaders and some of the most sought-after engineers in industry. Embodying the Japanese
philosophy of “monotsukuri,” meaning “technical ingenuity and innovation,” the Tokyo Tech
community strives to contribute to society through high-impact research.
https://www.titech.ac.jp/english/

WHITE SUPREMACY KILLS

Study finds that eight factors put Black adults at greater risk of early death

The findings show that America's race-based mortality gap is a social, not biological, construct and can be addressed via eight factors

Peer-Reviewed Publication

TULANE UNIVERSITY

Black adults who live in the United States have a 59% higher risk of premature death than White adults.

A new study from Tulane University published in Lancet Public Health has found that this gap can be entirely explained by disparities in eight areas of life critical to health and well-being: employment, income, food security, education level, access to healthcare, quality health insurance, home ownership and marital status.

These eight factors are called social determinants of health. Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a CDC survey used to determine disease prevalence and risks across the country, Tulane researchers modeled the impact of each factor on a person’s life expectancy. When all unfavorable social determinants were accounted for, the 59% mortality disparity was reduced to zero.

“It totally disappeared,” said Josh Bundy, lead author and epidemiologist at Tulane’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. “There’s no difference between Black and White premature mortality rates after accounting for these social determinants.”

While the mortality gap has been largely pinned on socioeconomic factors such as education level, income and employment status in recent years, researchers have acknowledged that these factors only explained most of the gap, Bundy said.

“This is the first time that anyone completely explained the differences,” Bundy said. “We didn’t expect that, and we were excited about that finding because it suggests social determinants should be the primary targets for eliminating health disparities.”

Socioeconomic factors were still found to play a major role, accounting for approximately 50% of the Black-White difference in mortality in the study. However, the other nearly 50% of the difference was explained by marital status, food security and whether someone has public or private health insurance, softer indicators that can speak to a person’s social support network, stability or job quality. 

Unfavorable social determinants of health were more common among Black adults and were found to carry enormous risk.

Having just one unfavorable social determinant of health was found to double a person’s chances of an early death. With six or more, a person has eight times higher risk of premature mortality.

Jiang He, the corresponding author and Joseph S. Copes Chair of Epidemiology the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, said these results “demonstrated that race-based health disparities are social, not biological, constructs.”

Bundy agreed, adding that the findings explain how “structural racism and discrimination lead to worse social risk factors, which may lead to premature death.”

“So how do we eliminate the structural differences between races?” Bundy said. “And regardless of race, if you have six or more of these factors, you’re at a really high risk. How do we address these issues for everyone?”

As a concept, social determinants of health is a relatively new framework being emphasized by the CDC’s Healthy People 2030 initiative.

Going forward, Bundy hopes the concept gains more traction and that policymakers use these findings to address the race-based mortality gap.

“These social determinants of health are the foundation of health problems,” Bundy said. “They need to be a top priority going forward and it’s going to take policy, research and a multi-disciplinary approach to tackle these issues.”

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JOURNAL

The Lancet Public Health

DOI

10.1016/S2468-2667(23)00081-6 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Social determinants of health and premature death among adults in the USA from 1999 to 2018: a national cohort study

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

25-May-2023

Global flash droughts expected to increase in a warming climate

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA

 

IMAGE: A FIGURE SHOWING THE IMPACT OF A FLASH DROUGHT ON A GRASSLAND IN OKLAHOMA. THE PHOTOS ON THE TOP ROW SHOW THE IMPACT OF THE FLASH DROUGHT ON THE ECOSYSTEM COMPARED WITH PHOTOS OF THE SAME AREA WITHOUT FLASH DROUGHT IMPACTS (BOTTOM ROW). view more 

CREDIT: IMAGE PROVIDED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA

The rapid development of unexpected drought, called flash drought, can severely impact agricultural and ecological systems with ripple effects that extend even further. Researchers at the University of Oklahoma are assessing how our warming climate will affect the frequency of flash droughts and the risk to croplands globally.

Jordan Christian, a postdoctoral researcher, is the lead author of the study, “Global projections of flash drought show increased risk in a warming climate,” published today in Nature Communications Earth and Environment.

“In this study, projected changes in flash drought frequency and cropland risk from flash drought are quantified using global climate model simulations,” Christian said. “We find that flash drought occurrence is expected to increase globally among all scenarios, with the sharpest increases seen in scenarios with higher radiative forcing and greater fossil fuel usage.”

Radiative forcing describes the imbalance of radiation where more radiation enters Earth’s atmosphere than leaves it. Like burning fossil fuels, these activities are among the most significant contributors to climate warming. The changing climate is expected to increase severe weather events from storms, flash flooding, flash droughts and more.

“Flash drought risk over cropland is expected to increase globally, with the largest increases projected across North America and Europe,” Christian said.

“CMIP6 models projected a 1.5 times increase in the annual risk of flash droughts over croplands across North America by 2100, from the 2015 baseline of a 32% yearly risk in 2015 to 49% in 2100, while Europe is expected to have the largest increase in the most extreme emissions scenario (32% to 53%), a 1.7 times increase in annual risk,” he said.

Jeffrey Basara, an associate professor in the School of Meteorology in the College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences and the School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Sciences in the Gallogly College of Engineering, is Christian’s faculty advisor and study co-author. Basara is the executive associate director of the hydrology and water security program and leads OU’s Climate, Hydrology, Ecosystems and Weather research group. The researchers have been investigating ways to improve flash drought identification and prediction since 2017, with multiple papers published in the Journal of Hydrometeorology, Environmental Research Letters and Nature Communications.

“This study continues to emphasize that agricultural producers, both domestic and abroad, will face increasing risks associated with water availability due to the rapid development of drought. As a result, socioeconomic pressures associated with food production, including higher prices and social unrest, will also increase when crop losses occur due to flash drought,” Basara said.

The multi-model mean of the yearly percentage of cropland experiencing flash drought over entire continents for the historical (black), SSP126 (blue), SSP245 (orange), and SSP585 (red) scenarios. A 30-year centered moving average is applied to each time series. The shaded regions indicate the variability (±1σ) among the 30-year centered moving averages between all six models for the corresponding historical and future scenarios.

CREDIT

From: Global projections of flash drought show increased risk in a warming climate

About the study 

“Global projections of flash drought show increased risk in a warming climate,” published in Nature Communications Earth & Environment, May 25, 2023. The National Science Foundation provided funding for the study. In addition to lead author Jordan Christian, co-authors from the University of Oklahoma include professors Jeffrey Basara, Elinor Martin and Jason Furtado in the School of Meteorology as well as Xiangming Xiao in the Department of Biology and Microbiology. Other co-authors include Jason A. Otkin, University of Wisconsin–Madison; Lauren E. L. Lowman, Wake Forest University; Eric D. Hunt, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; and Vimal Mishra, Indian Institute of Technology.

About the University of Oklahoma Office of the Vice President for Research and Partnerships 

The University of Oklahoma is a leading research university classified by the Carnegie Foundation as the nation’s highest tier of research universities. Faculty, staff and students at OU are tackling global challenges and accelerating the delivery of practical solutions that impact society in direct and tangible ways through research and creative activities. OU researchers expand foundational knowledge while moving beyond traditional academic boundaries, collaborating across disciplines and globally with other research institutions as well as decision-makers and practitioners from industry, government and civil society to create and apply solutions for a better world. Find out more at ou.edu/research.

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JOURNAL

Communications Earth & Environment

DOI

10.1038/s43247-023-00826-1 

ARTICLE TITLE

Global projections of flash drought show increased risk in a warming climate

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

25-May-2023