Two in three cosmetic surgery injections in the UK are not administered by doctors

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON

According to an analysis of the UK’s cosmetic injectables industry by UCL researchers, 68% of cosmetic practitioners who are administering injections such as Botox are not qualified medical doctors.

The study, published in the Journal of Plastic, Reconstructive & Aesthetic Surgery, is the first survey of who is providing cosmetic injectable services, such as Botulinum Toxin (Botox) and Dermal Fillers, in the UK. Currently, little is known about the background qualifications, training and experience levels of those who are administering treatments.

To fill this knowledge gap, researchers from UCL evaluated 3,000 websites to identify 1,224 independent clinics and 3,667 practitioners who were delivering cosmetic injections such as Botox.

Of the professions represented, 32% were doctors, 13% were nurses, 24% were dentists and 8% were dental nurses. Of the 1,163 doctors identified, 41% were on the specialist register and 19% were on the GP register. Among the 27 specialties represented on the specialist register, Plastic Surgery was the largest group (37%) followed by Dermatology (18%).

The UK injectables market is predicted to reach a value of £11.7 billion by 2026, but to date is effectively unregulated. The UK government is preparing to update policy around injectables, with a public consultation on the industry due to begin in August 2023. Recommendations are expected to inform amendments to the Medical Act in 2024.

Dr David Zargaran (UCL Plastic Surgery), an author of the study, said: “There are well-documented, yet to date unaddressed challenges in the UK cosmetic injectables market. Without knowledge of the professional backgrounds of practitioners, we cannot adequately regulate the industry. Our research highlights that the majority of practitioners are not doctors and include other healthcare professionals, as well as non-healthcare professionals such as beauticians.

“The range of backgrounds opens a broader question relating to competence and consent. One of the key challenges facing the government’s licensing scheme is to ensure that practitioners granted a licence possess the skills and experience required to safely administer their treatment to minimise risks to patients.

“It is important for patients to be able to feel comfortable and confident that the person administering their treatment is competent in the procedure as a fundamental foundation of informed consent. This research provides a unique insight into the sector to help inform regulators and patients, and work towards a safer and more transparent cosmetic injectables industry in the UK.”

As well as the professional background of those providing cosmetic injections, until recently there has been little research on the incidence of complications and the impact that these have upon patients. A second study from the same authors, published on 3 July 2023, found that 69% of respondents to the study had experienced long-lasting adverse effects, such as pain, anxiety and headaches.

Professor Julie Davies (UCL School Global Business School for Health), a co-author of the study, commented: “The UK cosmetic injectables industry has expanded rapidly in recent years. This has happened largely without scrutiny or oversight. Our findings should be a wake-up call for legislators to implement effective regulation and professional standards to safeguard patients from complications. Although the risks associated with injections are often mild and temporary, the physical complications can be permanent and debilitating. There are also serious psychological, emotional, and financial consequences for patients when procedures go wrong.”

The work was supported by a research grant from QUAD A.

Publication:

David Zargaran et al. ‘Profiling UK injectable aesthetic practitioners: a national cohort analysis’ is published in the Journal of Plastic, Reconstructive & Aesthetic Surgery and is strictly embargoed until 24 July 2023 00:01 GMT / 23 July 19:01 ET

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bjps.2023.06.057

About UCL – London’s Global University

UCL is a diverse global community of world-class academics, students, industry links, external partners, and alumni. Our powerful collective of individuals and institutions work together to explore new possibilities.

Since 1826, we have championed independent thought by attracting and nurturing the world's best minds. Our community of more than 50,000 students from 150 countries and over 16,000 staff pursues academic excellence, breaks boundaries and makes a positive impact on real world problems.

We are consistently ranked among the top 10 universities in the world and are one of only a handful of institutions rated as having the strongest academic reputation and the broadest research impact.

We have a progressive and integrated approach to our teaching and research – championing innovation, creativity and cross-disciplinary working. We teach our students how to think, not what to think, and see them as partners, collaborators and contributors.  

For almost 200 years, we are proud to have opened higher education to students from a wide range of backgrounds and to change the way we create and share knowledge.

We were the first in England to welcome women to university education and that courageous attitude and disruptive spirit is still alive today. We are UCL.

www.ucl.ac.uk | Follow @uclnews on Twitter | Read news at www.ucl.ac.uk/news/ | Listen to UCL podcasts on SoundCloud | Find out what’s on at UCL Minds

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DOI

10.1016/j.bjps.2023.06.057 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Meta-analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Profiling UK injectable aesthetic practitioners: a national cohort analysis

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

24-Jul-2023

Disclaimer: AAAS an

 

NIH grant to facilitate high-speed bioprinting of bones, tracheas, organs

Grant and Award Announcement

PENN STATE

 

IMAGE: IBRAHIM OZBOLAT, PROFESSOR OF ENGINEERING SCIENCE AND MECHANICS, BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING AND NEUROSURGERY AT PENN STATE, LEADS A LAB THAT SPECIALIZES IN 3D PRINTING TO CREATE A RANGE OF TISSUES FOR USE IN HUMAN HEALTH. view more 

CREDIT: PATRICK MANSELL/PENN STATE

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. —  Developing technology to quickly and efficiently bioprint human tissues at scale is the goal of a new project led by Penn State researchers. When fully developed, the technology will be the first to enable the fabrication of scalable, native tissues such as bones, tracheas and organs.

The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Engineering at the National Institute of Health has awarded over $2 million in support of the project, led by Ibrahim T. Ozbolat, professor of engineering science and mechanics, biomedical engineering, and neurosurgery at Penn State.

“This will be a platform technology, which can be used for multiple purposes,” said Ozbolat. “It could be used for implantation, inserting tissue directly into the body, or it can bioprint model organs for research like drug development and disease modeling. The ultimate use is for healthcare applications, but it can cover a broad range of functions.”

Ozbolat’s lab has spent years developing a process to bioprint cellular aggregates like spheroids, three-dimensional clusters of cells that mimic the biology of tissues and tumors. In 2019, the research team was awarded funding from NSF to explore the fundamentals of the technique. Now the team will use funding from NIH to scale up the process and quickly bioprint spheroids into desired patterns for the fabrication of tissues with cell densities similar what is found in nature.

“This technology, once fully developed, can be applied for the fabrication of a variety of human tissues,” said co-principal investigator Elias Rizk, a professor of neurosurgery at Penn State College of Medicine. “It could be cardiac tissue or lung tissue. It could be skin or even bone, which is tissue. This technology could repair bone in a rapid manner, even in sensitive places like the skull.”

The project is the result of an interdisciplinary collaboration between engineers at Penn State and physicians at Penn State College of Medicine. The team includes experts in bioprinting, instrument development, biomaterials, craniofacial surgery, and bone and lung tissue engineering.

The technology, which the team has titled “high-throughput spheroid (HTS) bioprinting,” will have the ability to bioprint multiple spheroids in a range of sizes all at once, according to the researchers. Once developed, it will have high accuracy in all three dimensions and will operate at an unprecedented speed. The technology will be versatile enough that it can print complex structures onto the surface of gel substrates for research purposes or in a scaffold-free manner for the scalable fabrication of tissues.

“We are already printing these tissue ‘bricks’ with the highest throughput in the literature,” Ozbolat said. “That's the most significant and unique part of this technology. It’s truly amazing. If we can do it quickly, at scale, then it could fundamentally change the field of medicine.”

A whole new dimension for 3D printing

Self-folding origami sheets create 3D shapes quickly, cheaply and efficiently

Reports and Proceedings

UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO

 

VIDEO: THE SOFTWARE THE TEAM CREATED IS BASED ON AN IMPORTANT ALGORITHM IN THE FIELD OF ORIGAMI. IT CAN DECOMPOSE A 3D INPUT OBJECT AND OUTPUT A 2D PATTERN. THIS PROCESS WOULD TAKE A HUMAN ARTIST TIME, PATIENCE AND A LOT OF TRIAL AND ERROR. THIS ALGORITHM IS WHAT FIRST INSPIRED THE TEAM TO EXPLORE THE IDEA OF RAPID 4D FABRICATION AND IS FUNDAMENTAL TO THE PROCESS. view more 

CREDIT: ©2023 NARUMI ET AL. CC-BY-ND

3D printing of complex objects typically takes a long time due to the printing process necessarily laying down a large number of 2D layers to build up the object. The process usually wastes a lot of material required to support the unfinished object. Some novel ways to make flat materials self-fold into 3D shapes exist, but have shortcomings. For the first time, researchers combined 2D printing, origami, and chemistry to create a method of rapid 3D object fabrication without creating any waste material. These shapes self-fold in seconds.

For some time, 3D printing has been used to prototype products and is now seeing more use in the fabrication of commercial items, including even parts for jet engines. But every method of 3D fabrication comes with limitations, such as the long time taken to complete prints or the wastage of vestigial materials in printing. 4D printing is a concept that aims to mitigate these issues using a minimal amount of materials, selected for having certain special properties, allowing them to self-fold into complex 3D shapes under the right conditions. It’s called 4D printing, as the process of self-folding necessarily makes use of time, which is often said to be the 4th dimension. Ironically, a new method of rapid 4D printing begins in the 2D realm.

“My team and I discovered how to use accessible tools and materials to create self-folding 4D objects,” said Project Assistant Professor Koya Narumi from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Systems at the University of Tokyo. “Essentially, we’re creating flat sheets with origami patterns on them, and these patterns can be complex, taking even a skilled origami artist hours to form. But thanks to our special process, you can pour hot water over these flat sheets and watch as they spring into complex 3D shapes in a matter of seconds.”

The technique utilizes a special kind of inkjet printer made for printing with UV-reactive materials — although the machine itself can cost tens of thousands of dollars, they are often found within maker communities and shared workshops. This printer prints a 2D origami design onto both sides of a plastic sheet that shrinks with heat. The ink it uses doesn’t shrink and can stay flexible when dry. As the base sheet shrinks when heated and the ink resists the shrinking, by leaving gaps between sections of ink on one side or the other, the designer can control which way a certain section of the sheet folds. Hot water is used to apply heat across the flat sheet so that it spontaneously folds into an intricate origami construction.

“Our biggest challenge was refining the options for hardware and materials, which took over a year to narrow it down to the final choices,” said Narumi. “But all the trial and error was worth it; compared to previous research around this same basic idea, we’ve improved the output resolution by 1,200 times, meaning the designs we can create are not just novelties, but can be used for real applications. In the future, we may explore functional materials, such as conductive or magnetic inks, that could allow for machines and other functional devices.”

Narumi and team hope this innovation can find use in various fields such as fashion, where material wastage is often high, especially in areas where bespoke designs are sought after. But given the pre-folded shapes are entirely flat, there’s also scope for this to be useful in any situation where there are tight logistical or storage concerns. Printed designs could even be posted, and the recipient could then heat them to turn them into the thing they ordered. And there could even be a use in the area of disaster recovery, where certain items, possibly including medical items, are needed but are often difficult to transport, and it becomes a lot easier when the items required are essentially flat.

 

4D printing process

Specially created software turns an input 3D model, which can be a scan of an existing object, into a 2D pattern that can then be printed. The prints can then be submersed in hot water to self-fold into the final 3D object.

Although the printed origami sheets are essentially flat, they combine many layers of different inks atop and below the central heat-shrink sheet material. A primer helps inks stick to the sheet, even when wet. The black ink is what resists the shrinking to allow folds to take place. A white layer provides a blank canvas for a color layer. And a final clear layer protects all of those below.

In origami, there are two main types of creases used: valley folds and mountain folds. In each case, the paper is folded either inwards or outwards. To make these folds, gaps are left on one side of the heat-shrink sheet to allow for that part of the sheet to fold inwards, like a valley, or outwards, like a mountain, when heat is applied.

The software the team created is based on an important algorithm in the field of origami. It can decompose a 3D input object and output a 2D pattern. This process would take a human artist time, patience and a lot of trial and error. This algorithm is what first inspired the team to explore the idea of rapid 4D fabrication and is fundamental to the process.

CREDIT

©2023 Narumi et al. CC-BY-ND

Journal article: Koya Narumi*, Kazuki Koyama*, Kai Suto, Yuta Noma, Hiroki Sato, Tomohiro Tachi, Masaaki Sugimoto, Takeo Igarashi, and Yoshihiro Kawahara. (* joint first authors). Inkjet 4D Print: Self-folding Tessellated Origami Objects by Inkjet UV Printing. ACM Transactions on Graphics. https://doi.org/10.1145/3592409

Funding:
This research was partially supported by JST ACT-I, Grant Number JPMJPR18UN; Value Exchange Engineering, a joint research project between Mercari, Inc and RIISE; and JST AdCORP, Grant Number JPMJKB2302.

Useful links:
Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Systems
https://www.eeis.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/

Koya Narumi
https://narumi.me/

About The University of Tokyo
The University of Tokyo is Japan's leading university and one of the world's top research universities. The vast research output of some 6,000 researchers is published in the world's top journals across the arts and sciences. Our vibrant student body of around 15,000 undergraduate and 15,000 graduate students includes over 4,000 international students. Find out more at www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/ or follow us on Twitter at @UTokyo_News_en.

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JOURNAL

ACM Transactions on Graphics

DOI

10.1145/3592409 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Inkjet 4D Print: Self-folding Tessellated Origami Objects by Inkjet UV Printing

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

24-Jul-2023

Disclaimer: AAAS a

 

New antibiotics on the way – but not quickly enough

The latest snapshot of the clinical pipeline of new antibiotics shows improvement, but not enough to avoid a crisis.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND

A report by University of Queensland researchers has warned a global crisis of antibiotic resistance is inevitable, despite promising developments in new antibiotics.

The Centre for Superbug Solutions at UQ’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience has monitored the clinical pipeline for more than a decade, with its latest snapshot showing 62 new antibiotics in development.

Professor Mark Blaskovich said it was encouraging that 34 of those were based on structures not previously used as an antibiotic.

“It means the resulting medication will be less likely to have existing resistance in the bacteria and potentially it will take longer for resistance to develop,” Professor Blaskovich said.

“But it’s still a glass half-empty situation compared to other classes of drugs, where pharmaceutical companies stand to gain more profit.

“Sixty-two new antibiotics in development is still very low compared to almost 2,000 in the cancer drug pipeline.

“We’re still not where we need to be given the urgency of the situation.”

Drug-resistant infections continue to grow, with a 2022 report showing 1.27 million deaths globally in 2019 were directly attributed to resistant bacteria and a further 4.9 million deaths were associated.

Professor Blaskovich said major ‘push’ funding initiatives such as Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator (CARB-X) were appearing to have some impact in the early stages of the antibiotic pipeline, with nearly double the number of candidates in the first stage of clinical testing, compared to the first analysis in 2011.

“But new incentives are needed to help make it financially viable for pharmaceutical companies to advance new antibiotics through the later stages of clinical testing,” Professor Blaskovich said.

“These include the Netflix-style subscription payment model recently being tested in the UK, where the government pays for access to an antibiotic regardless of the quantity.

“It means the pharmaceutical company is less interested in sales volume and more likely to invest in developing novel treatments.

“It also discourages doctors from overprescribing antibiotics which leads to resistance.”

The researchers said there was also hope from non-antibiotic approaches to combat infection.

“There is renewed interest in vaccines, particularly with mRNA technologies, which have been incredibly effective – and unlike antibiotics, can be lucrative products for pharmaceutical companies,” Professor Blaskovich said.

IMB’s Community for Open Antimicrobial Drug Discovery (CO-ADD) is fostering antibiotic discovery by offering researchers free screening of compounds for antimicrobial activity.

The research was published in The Journal of Antibiotics.

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JOURNAL

The Journal of Antibiotics

DOI

10.1038/s41429-023-00629-8 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Literature review

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Antibiotics in the clinical pipeline as of December 2022

 

Gene variant may help explain why Black individuals are prone to severe strokes

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF UTAH HEALTH

In a new study, University of Utah Health researchers have shown that a particular version of a gene may contribute to the higher severity of stroke seen among Black Americans. The findings could help scientists develop more effective stroke medications for people who carry the gene.

The research, which published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, demonstrated that mice carrying the gene had a higher level of disability after a stroke. These mice were also less responsive to drugs commonly used to prevent stroke. The results are the first direct evidence linking the gene to medical outcomes.

“This suggests one novel reason for racial disparities in stroke outcomes is that standard anti-platelet therapies may not be appropriate for patients carrying this gene, which includes around 60% of Black patients,” says Robert Campbell, Ph.D., the senior author on the paper and an investigator at U of U Health.

A gene that turbo-charges blood clotting

Black Americans have a higher risk of stroke than other ethnic groups and a higher rate of death and disability after a stroke. Lifestyle factors and other comorbid medical conditions contribute to this disparity, but previous research has also shown that genetics play a role.

In particular, a version of a gene involved in blood clotting, called PAR4, is common in Black individuals. It’s estimated that around 60% of Black individuals and 20% of White individuals have the A allele version of this gene.

PAR4 works by helping blood cells, called platelets, form clots. These clumps of cells are important to help stop bleeding after injury but can cause stroke if they obstruct the flow of blood in the brain. PAR4 sits on the surface of platelets and detects chemical signals released into the blood to activate clot formation.

Other studies had shown that platelets from Black individuals often recruited many more platelets when exposed to the clotting signal compared with platelets from White donors. This led researchers to suspect that the A allele could be “turbo-charging” the platelets, leading to larger clots and worse stroke outcomes.

To investigate this idea, the researchers looked at data from a large-scale observational study of stroke risk factors in humans. When they tested 7,620 Black participants for PAR4, they found that individuals carrying two copies of the A allele had a higher incidence of stroke and higher levels of disability afterward.

In order to dig deeper, the scientists turned to mice. Working with the pre-clinical model allowed them to control for other genetic and environmental factors, something that’s not possible in humans. This meant they could isolate the effects of just one genetic change.

“It’s all association until you can prove it from a molecular biology perspective,” says Campbell, who is an assistant professor of internal medicine in the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine at University of Utah.

The researchers found that, as they had predicted, platelets from mice carrying the PAR4 A allele had heightened reactivity. Clots formed larger clusters compared with platelets from mice who were completely identical except for that one gene. Mice with the A allele also had greater disability after a stroke.

Differential drug activity

From there, the scientists tested stroke-preventing medications on the mice with the two “humanized” versions of the PAR4 gene. “That’s where I think it becomes really interesting,” says Frederik Denorme, Ph.D., the first author on the study and a researcher at U of U Health.

FDA-approved medications commonly prescribed to prevent stroke, such as aspirin and ticagrelor, protected mice with the PAR4 variant that is common in Whites. But the drugs did not protect mice carrying the PAR4 variant common in Black individuals.

It’s too soon for the new findings to change clinical practice, but Denorme says he hopes the study impacts how clinical research is carried out. Clinical trials often enroll mostly White patients, meaning genes that are more common in other populations are not well represented. Boosting racial diversity in trials can reveal when a drug’s activity varies among groups, he says.

Denorme believes that the mouse model could be useful for testing possible new medications to improve stroke outcomes in people. “These mice will allow us to address questions like why one drug is not good for all stroke patients,” he says. “I think our project hints at the need for personalized medicine based on genetics.”

# # #

About University of Utah Health

University of Utah Health  provides leading-edge and compassionate care for a referral area that encompasses Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, and much of Nevada. A hub for health sciences research and education in the region, U of U Health has a $458 million research enterprise and trains the majority of Utah’s physicians, and more than 1,670 scientists and 1,460 health care providers at its Colleges of Health, Nursing, and Pharmacy and Schools of Dentistry and Medicine. With more than 20,000 employees, the system includes 12 community clinics and five hospitals. U of U Health is recognized nationally as a transformative health care system and provider of world-class care.

 

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JOURNAL

Journal of Clinical Investigation

DOI

10.1172/JCI169608 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

The predominant PAR4 variant in individuals of African ancestry worsens murine and human stroke outcomes

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

21-Jul-2023

 

New AI model outperforms traditional methods in predicting Central Pacific El Nino

Peer-Reviewed Publication

INSTITUTE OF ATMOSPHERIC PHYSICS, CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

In a recently published study, researchers from the CAS Institute of Atmospheric Physics developed an artificial intelligence (AI) model powered by deep learning algorithms that outperforms traditional dynamic models in predicting the development and pattern of central Pacific El Nino events. The study sheds light on the potential of AI to enhance seasonal forecasts, offering significant advancements in climate prediction.

 

El Nino events in the central Pacific can have far-reaching impacts on global climate, making accurate predictions crucial for preparedness and risk reduction. The new AI model, based on convolutional neural network technology, is trained by the sea surface temperature (SST) produced by the models participating the Coupled Model Intercomparison Projects to forecast the specific shape, location, and timing of SST anomalies associated with central Pacific El Nino events.

 

The corresponding author Prof. HUANG Ping emphasized the significance of the findings, stating, "This study demonstrates the potential of artificial intelligence in improving predictions of significant climate events like El Nino that can have devastating effects around the globe."

 

The AI model surpasses traditional dynamical models in accuracy, particularly in predicting SST anomalies in the west-central equatorial Pacific. Additionally, a hybrid model that combines predictions from both the AI model and dynamical models achieves even higher accuracy for central and east Pacific El Nino events.

 

The results of this novel research were published in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences. The research team plans to further leverage the power of deep learning to expand the application of AI models in seasonal climate forecasting, aiming to provide earlier and more accurate warnings of major weather events.

 

The findings have pronounced implications for disaster risk reduction efforts worldwide, as AI-driven predictions can contribute to improved preparedness and mitigation strategies. By harnessing the potential of AI, scientists and policymakers can work together to enhance global resilience to climate-related challenges.

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JOURNAL

Advances in Atmospheric Sciences

DOI

10.1007/s00376-023-3001-1 

ARTICLE TITLE

Superiority of convolutional neural network model over the dynamical models in predicting the central Pacific ENSO

 

DFG and Leopoldina support European Commission proposal on the regulation of plants obtained by new genomic techniques

Research organisations see draft as facilitating plant research / Significant potential for more sustainable agriculture in Europe

Business Announcement

DEUTSCHE FORSCHUNGSGEMEINSCHAFT

In a joint statement issued today, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) and the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina welcome the proposal of the European Commission for a new regulatory framework for new genomic techniques in plant breeding and agriculture, which was published on 5 July 2023. They believe the proposed amendment will facilitate plant research and help realise the significant potential of new breeding techniques to make agriculture in Europe more sustainable.

 

“The Commission has presented a carefully balanced proposal that takes into account the recommendations and interests of science and research. Importantly, the new regulation will facilitate access to field trials on plants developed with these new technologies, thereby paving the way to more diverse crops with a smaller ecological footprint,” said DFG President Professor Dr. Katja Becker.

 

Leopoldina President Professor Dr. Gerald Haug (ETHZ) said: “We welcome the EU Commission’s science-based proposal. The way we farm will help determine the success of our efforts to address the climate and biodiversity crises. New breeding techniques can play an important role in the transformation of agriculture.”

 

Many of the world’s largest agricultural producers and EU trading partners, including the US, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Australia, Japan, China and the UK, have already introduced science-based, innovation-oriented regulatory frameworks for so-called NGT crops (NGT stands for New Genomic Techniques). For this reason, the EU needs an appropriate amendment to its legislation on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) that takes into account the state of research as well as environmental and new geopolitical realities.

 

The two research organisations are confident that advances in breeding and biotechnology are the key to combating hunger and malnutrition, producing healthier and more nutritious food in a sustainable way, and adapting agriculture to climate change. This is because the new breeding techniques offer two key advantages over conventional breeding methods: speed and precision. As such, the new technologies can make a significant contribution to increasing agricultural productivity and breeding new plant varieties that contribute to a healthier diet and are more resistant to climate change.

Already in 2019, the Leopoldina, the DFG and the Union of German Academies of Sciences and Humanities published a statement entitled “Towards a scientifically justified, differentiated regulation of genome edited plants in the EU”. This was followed in January 2023 by a position paper entitled “In support of a timely and state-of-the-art regulation of the products of new breeding techniques as a contribution to tackling multiple crises in the 21st century”, issued by the Permanent Senate Commission on Genetic Research of the DFG.

 

 

 

Further information

 

For the full text of the statement, see:

www.dfg.de/download/pdf/dfg_im_profil/geschaeftsstelle/publikationen/stellungnahmen_papiere/2023/statement_genomic_techniques.pdf

 

To the position paper “In support of a timely and state-of-the-art regulation of the products of new breeding techniques as a contribution to tackling multiple crises in the 21st century” (2023):

https://www.dfg.de/download/pdf/dfg_im_profil/gremien/senat/genforschung/position_genomeditierte_pflanzen_en.pdf

 

Statement – “Towards a scientifically justified, differentiated regulation of genome edited plants in the EU” (2019): https://www.leopoldina.org/en/publications/detailview/publication/towards-a-scientifically-justified-differentiated-regulation-of-genome-edited-plants-in-the-eu-2019/

 

 

Bilingualism as a catalyst for social development in children

SUTD researchers delve into the bilingual experience and its impact on children’s context-sensitive perception of trust, offering insights into how language diversity can enrich and benefit children’s social-cognitive development

Peer-Reviewed Publication

SINGAPORE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND DESIGN

 

IMAGE: A CHILD DECIDING IF HE WANTS TO FOLLOW THE EXPERIMENTER'S POINT DURING THE TEST PHASE OF THE STUDY. view more 

CREDIT: SUTD

As children learn more about the world through the people around them, the diversity in languages presents them with a unique opportunity for better social-cognitive learning.

Past research has shown that children who grew up bilingual have heightened sensitivities to communicative cues and are more adept at understanding a speaker’s context and intent. An area that had yet to be explored was the role of bilingualism in a child’s ability to assess communicative cues along with the speaker’s context and intent.

Associate Professor Yow Wei Quin from the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) addressed this gap in literature by investigating how children with varying linguistic backgrounds consider context when evaluating a speaker’s reliability in communicative cues.

Together with SUTD researcher Li Xiaoqian, Assoc Prof Yow published a paper titled, ‘Role of bilingual experience in children’s context-sensitive selective trust strategies’ in Bilingualism: Language and Cognition. The research provided novel insights into how the bilingual experience influences the ability of children to discern and trust reliable speakers.

The participating children, aged between three and five, were tasked with finding a sticker hidden in one of two boxes, which were either transparent or partially covered. An informant was present to aid their search by giving accurate or inaccurate cues to the whereabouts of the sticker. Based on the boxes used, the children knew if the informant could see the location of the sticker (visual access to information). The setup was repeated in several phases prior to the actual experiment to help the children determine if the informant was reliable in giving correct cues (accurate informant versus inaccurate informant).

What Assoc Prof Yow found was that children with greater language diversity were more sensitive to contextual factors when assessing the informant’s reliability than those with less language diversity. When the informant had visual access to information, these children would selectively trust the informant if he or she had previously provided accurate cues, but not when he or she provided inaccurate cues in the past.

On the other hand, if the children attributed the informant’s prior inaccuracy to the lack of visual access to information, they showed comparable trust towards both accurate and inaccurate informants. This result demonstrates bilingual children’s deeper understanding of contexts and communication nuances.

“The advantages of bilingualism in children’s social-cognitive development likely stem from a greater communicative flexibility that the children has acquired in order to interact socially with people from different language and cultural backgrounds,” Assoc Prof Yow explained. Regularly adapting to changing communicative contexts, when switching between speakers of different languages or cultures for example, challenges and fine-tunes the children’s skilful management of their daily interactions.

Through this research, Assoc Prof Yow aims to develop ideas on ways to embrace language diversity, with the ultimate goal of harnessing the advantages of bilingualism to improve the developmental and educational outcomes for children from all walks of life. For example, encouraging dual language exposure can boost opportunities for children to develop effective communicative skills and social-cognitive abilities. In the bigger picture, Assoc Prof Yow hopes to inspire a positive shift in attitudes towards language diversity.

“By embracing bilingualism, parents and educators can provide their children with a rich social and cognitive foundation for the development of important social-communication skills,” she opined.

Assoc Prof Yow’s next step is to extend her research to the role of multilingualism in children’s development and the impact of language diversity in adulthood. Supported by the Singapore Ministry of Education Academic Research Fund, her team at SUTD, has embarked on a project that investigates how lifelong bilingual experiences and picking up different languages early in life can shape social understanding in young and older adults. Together with a team of researchers led by Assoc Prof Helen Zhou from NUS, they are also evaluating how such experiences promote cognitive and brain plasticity, believing that these new insights can help humans leverage the advantages of language diversity for personal growth and social cohesion.

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JOURNAL

Bilingualism Language and Cognition

DOI

10.1017/S1366728923000433 

ARTICLE TITLE

Role of bilingual experience in children's context-sensitive selective trust strategies