UV disinfection in the treatment management of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variants

Scientists investigate the inactivation efficacy of different UV wavelengths and assess the safety profile for effective management of COVID-19 risks

Peer-Reviewed Publication

NAGOYA CITY UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: SOLID CIRCLES SHOW THE VIRAL INFECTIVITY OBTAINED BY TCID50 ASSAY, AND SOLID SQUARES SHOW THE REDUCTION IN RNA AMPLIFICATION DETERMINED BY QPCR, WHERE THE RELATIVE RATIO TO THOSE OF UNEXPOSED CONTROLS WAS USED. THE INACTIVATION EFFICACY OF (A) 220 NM LIGHT, WHICH IS CONSIDERED SAFE FOR THE HUMAN BODY, WAS APPROXIMATELY THE SAME AS THAT OF HEALTH HAZARDOUS (B) 260 NM LIGHT FOR BOTH BA.2 (DARK DOTS) AND BA.5 (LIGHT DOTS). view more 

CREDIT: TAKAHIRO MATSUMOTO FROM NCU, JAPAN

The global outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and its new variants has created a need for effective disinfection technologies to protect against harmful pathogens. While vaccines offer some protection, their effectiveness against future variants is uncertain. Therefore, additional strategies are important during the pre-vaccine stage.

UV irradiation has lately emerged as a safe, effective, and convenient strategy to inactivate and eliminate disease-causing micro-organisms. The wavelength range of 200-235 nm, often referred to as far-UVC, is being increasingly investigated as a novel disinfection wavelength. Even though it has been shown to be harmless to mammalian cells due to the strong absorption effect of the stratum corneum layer, the safety of UV irradiation on mammalian cells is not well-established, and there are concerns that high levels of far-UVC light can cause damage to the skin cells. Further, available study data has significant inconsistencies that might be caused by the differences in both the strains of SARS-CoV-2 and experimental conditions such as the spectrum of the light sources. To address these issues, Prof. Takahiro Matsumoto from the Graduate School of Design and Architecture, Nagoya City University, along with his team, conducted systematic experiments using varying UV wavelengths without variance in other experimental conditions. The dedicated team of scientists included Prof. Makoto Tomita from Shizuoka University, Prof. Tadao Hasegawa from Nagoya City University, and Prof. Yasuhito Tanaka from Kumamoto University, among others. Their study was published online on 15th June, 2023 in Scientific Reports. 

To explore the interaction of UV rays with two omicron variants of coronavirus, the team conducted a series of experiments. First, they isolated omicron BA.2 and BA.5 variants of SARS-CoV-2 from the infected cells (VeroE6/TMPRSS2). Next, they subjected the isolated omicron BA.2 and BA.5 variants to UV irradiation across a range of wavelengths, specifically ranging from 200 to 260 nm. For each wavelength, varying doses of UV irradiation, ranging from 0 to 18 mJ/cm2, were applied. The inactivation rate constant–which quantifies effectiveness of the treatment—was calculated by using two methods, TCID50 (tissue culture infectious dose) and qPCR (quantitative polymerase chain reaction).

The study showed that both omicron BA.2 and BA.5 variants have almost identical UV inactivation properties. Although the inactivation rates were highest at 260 nm, the rates obtained with 220 nm light were similar to those obtained with the former. The findings highlight the potential of far-UVC light as a safe germicidal option. "The comparable inactivation efficacy between 220 nm and 260 nm light suggests that far-UVC light could be a promising and safe approach to mitigate airborne virus transmission,” concludes Prof. Matsumoto.

Furthermore, it was found that the UV inactivation rate constants obtained in a liquid suspension were approximately 10 times lower than those previously obtained in an aerosol, suggesting the potential role of the Mie scattering effect in enhancing UV irradiance within aerosol droplets.

Additionally, the bacteria E. coli was used as a reference point to compare and understand the differences in inactivation and genome damage when compared to the SARS-CoV-2 omicron variants. The study found that, above 240 nm, both SARS-CoV-2 and E. coli exhibit similar sensitivities to UV light, indicating UV-induced inactivation primarily targets genes (DNA or RNA). However, below 240 nm, significant differences were observed, which can be attributed to the difference in thickness of the protein layer covering DNA or RNA. Also, the spectral sensitivities obtained through TCID50 assays and qPCR assays indicated correlation between the two methods. 

This study provides valuable insights into the UV susceptibility of SARS-CoV-2 omicron variants. The observed similarities in inactivation efficacy between 220 nm and 260 nm light, in combination with aerosols, suggest the potential use of far-UVC light for preventing airborne virus transmission in a safe and practical manner. It is expected that, the results obtained here will pave way toward safe ultraviolet sterilization technologies in the near future.

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JOURNAL

Scientific Reports

DOI

10.1038/s41598-023-36610-6 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Cells

ARTICLE TITLE

Wavelength dependence of ultraviolet light inactivation for SARS-CoV-2 omicron variants

 

Is it a healthy day in the neighborhood?

Simmons College of Kentucky, University of Louisville partner on project to define neighborhood assets that support residents’ health

Grant and Award Announcement

UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE

 

IMAGE: SIMMONS COLLEGE OF KENTUCKY STUDENTS CONDUCTED NEIGHBORHOOD ASSET MAPPING SURVEYS IN LOUISVILLE IN 2021 AS PART OF A PILOT STUDY. view more 

CREDIT: SIMMONS COLLEGE OF KENTUCKY

What characteristics of a neighborhood contribute to the health of its residents – or reduce it?

The University of Louisville and Simmons College of Kentucky are embarking on a new project to answer that question and discover how changing a place can improve the health of its residents. A $500,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will fund an 18-month study to identify the features all neighborhoods should have in order to promote the health of all residents.

Researchers from Simmons’ Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr. Center for Racial Justice and UofL’s Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute, along with urban studies expert Michael Emerson of Rice University and legal scholar Shavonnie Carthens of the University of Kentucky, will survey residents of two Louisville neighborhoods, review existing data on environmental factors that affect health and consider legal aspects of neighborhood development, all with the goal of defining a “universal basic neighborhood” (UBN). A universal basic neighborhood is one that has all the necessary community assets that help residents thrive in their place.

The most recent Health Equity Report from the Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness, published in 2017, highlights stark differences in morbidity and mortality of those living in different neighborhoods across the city. For example, in Louisville’s predominantly Black communities, life expectancy is as much as 12.6 years less than in the most affluent, predominantly white communities. Black babies born from 2011-2015 have a death rate 1.95 times higher than the Louisville Metro average and 2.31 times higher than white babies. Diabetes, heart disease and cancer rates vary by location, race and income.

“We live in one of the wealthiest countries in the world and we still have places where living conditions contribute to diseases that are entirely preventable,” said Ted Smith, director of the UofL Center for Healthy Air, Water and Soil, part of the Envirome Institute. “This work is about diagnosing and treating places so that the health benefits are shared by many.”

Most existing efforts to address health inequities focus on providing health resources to eligible individuals. This study instead looks for ways to improve health at the neighborhood level by providing resources that make it easier for residents to make healthy choices.

“Neighborhoods, no matter where they are, are not inherently bad or good. They're just neighborhoods. However, one thing that makes neighborhoods different from each other is access to health-supportive resources,” said Nancy Seay, chair of the James R. L. Diggs Department of Sociology at Simmons. “We know that every neighborhood has a rich fabric of local resources that residents access, and we want to uncover these and promote their utilization. Everyone, no matter where they live, wants and deserves to enjoy good health and a long life. This project can be a game changer for the way we think about designing and supporting neighborhoods and their residents.”

The scope of the research

The research team, led by Seay and Smith, will assemble evidence for place-based factors that are associated with good health, identify and map assets in two demographically distinct Louisville neighborhoods, examine the history of civic investment in Louisville and determine how to develop and implement city policy that supports health.

In the same vein as historic efforts to ensure clean drinking water and waste removal for entire communities, the UBN project will assess and rank factors that contribute to longer, healthier lives, such as opportunities for exercise and recreation, greenness and access to healthy food and transportation. This project approaches health equity with the idea that it is more efficient to invest in resources that benefit the health of all residents of underserved neighborhoods than in health interventions for individuals.

In the first stage of the project, set to start in September, Seay will lead work to map assets of Louisville’s Crescent Hill and California neighborhoods. Students in her Participatory Action Research class at Simmons will conduct door-to-door surveys, interviews and focus groups in those neighborhoods to reveal how residents of those communities find good health, what aspects of their environment they believe contribute to health and how empowered they feel to make changes. They also hope to identify important assets related to the specific interests and culture of those living in the neighborhoods that have not been studied previously. UofL students also may take the class through a reciprocal agreement with Simmons.

At UofL, Smith will lead a review of published studies that can help justify components of a UBN and provide criteria for weighting those components. Factors evaluated will include those that contribute to disease and those that promote health, such as access to parks, forms of transit and the variety of educational, recreational and entertainment venues.

Carthens, a legal scholar at the UK’s J. David Rosenberg College of Law and formerly at UofL’s Brandeis School of Law, will delve into the deep drivers of policies that must be reformed in order to achieve an optimal neighborhood environment. She will identify the legal framework required to support the public provision of a UBN and sectors of society best positioned to provide these resources.

The project also includes Emerson, Chavanne Fellow in Religion and Public Policy at Rice University’s Baker Institute and co-founder of Rice’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research.

At the project’s completion, the team expects to have a "playbook" that will assist communities in defining their own neighborhood needs and outline steps toward implementing the plan.

For more information:

Residents of the California and Crescent Hill neighborhoods who are interested in participating in surveys or focus group interviews for the project may contact Patricia Reeves at  patricia.reeves@simmonscollegeky.edu.

Community Partners who are interested in learning more about the project and opportunities for collaboration may contact Lauren Anderson at lauren.anderson@louisville.edu.

Project updates will be shared on social media at Simmons College and the Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute.

 

Storing fat at the waist may NOT up diabetes risk, surprise findings indicate

For some people, gene variants may cause abdominal fat storage while protecting from diabetes

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA HEALTH SYSTEM

 

IMAGE: “THERE IS A GROWING BODY OF EVIDENCE FOR METABOLICALLY HEALTHY OBESITY. IN THIS CONDITION, PEOPLE WHO WOULD NORMALLY BE AT RISK FOR CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES AND DIABETES BECAUSE THEY ARE OBESE ARE ACTUALLY PROTECTED FROM ADVERSE EFFECTS OF THEIR OBESITY. IN OUR STUDY, WE FOUND A GENETIC LINK THAT MAY EXPLAIN HOW THIS OCCURS IN CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS,” SAID RESEARCHER METE CIVELEK, PHD, OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA SCHOOL OF MEDICINE’S CENTER FOR PUBLIC HEALTH GENOMICS. view more 

CREDIT: UVA HEALTH

Conventional wisdom holds that storing fat around your belly puts you at increased risk for type 2 diabetes. But surprising new findings from the University of Virginia School of Medicine suggest that naturally occurring variations in our genes can lead some people to store fat at the waist but also protect them from diabetes.

The unexpected discovery provides a more nuanced view of the role of obesity in diabetes and related health conditions. It also could pave the way for more personalized medicine – treatments tailored to the individual. For example, doctors might prioritize weight loss for patients whose genes put them at increased risk but place less emphasis on it for patients with protective gene variants, the researchers say.

“There is a growing body of evidence for metabolically healthy obesity. In this condition, people who would normally be at risk for cardiovascular diseases and diabetes because they are obese are actually protected from adverse effects of their obesity. In our study, we found a genetic link that may explain how this occurs in certain individuals,” said researcher Mete Civelek, PhD, of UVA’s Center for Public Health Genomics. “Understanding various forms of obesity is important to tailor treatments for individuals who are at high risk for adverse effects of obesity.”

As medicine grows more sophisticated, understanding the role of naturally occurring gene variations will play an important role in ensuring patients get the best, most tailored treatments. The new work by Civelek and his team, for example, indicates that variants can simultaneously predispose some people to store fat at the abdomen – thought to put them at increased risk for a cluster of health problems called metabolic syndrome – while also protecting them from type 2 diabetes. (Metabolic syndrome raises the risk for diabetes, stroke and other serious health issues.)

One of the metrics doctors use to determine if a patient has metabolic syndrome is abdominal obesity. This is often calculated by comparing the patient’s waist and hip measurements. But Civelek’s research suggest that, for at least some patients, it may not be that simple. In the future, doctors may want to check a patient’s genes to determine how to best guide the person down the road to good health. 

“We found that among the hundreds of regions in our genomes which increase our propensity to accumulate excess fat in our abdomens, there are five which have an unexpected role,” said Yonathan Aberra, the lead author of the study and a PhD candidate at UVA’s Department of Biomedical Engineering, a joint program of the School of Medicine and School of Engineering. “To our surprise, these five regions decrease an individual’s risk for type 2 diabetes.”

In addition to producing surprising findings, Civelek’s research provides important new tools for his fellow researchers seeking to understand the complexities of gene variations. The sophisticated approach Civelek and his collaborators developed to identify the relevant variants and their potential effects will be useful for future research into metabolic syndrome and other conditions.

The tools could also prove invaluable in the development of new and better treatments for metabolic syndrome, the scientists say.

“We now need to expand our studies in more women and people from different genetic ancestries to identify even more genes that underlie the metabolically health obesity phenomenon,” Civelek said. “We plan to build on our findings to perform more experiments to potentially identify a therapeutic target.” 

The researchers have published their findings in the scientific journal eLife. The paper is open access, meaning it is free to read.

The research team consisted of Yonathan Tamrat Aberra, Lijiang Ma, Johan L.M. Björkegren and Mete Civelek. The researchers have no financial interest in the work.

The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, grant R01 DK118287; the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, grant T32 HL007284; the American Diabetes Association, grant 1-19-IBS-105; and the National Science Foundation’s Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation Bridge-to-the-Doctorate Virginia-North Carolina Alliance Fellowship. 

To keep up with the latest medical research news from UVA, subscribe to the Making of Medicine blog.

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JOURNAL

eLife

DOI

10.7554/eLife.79834 

 

Study examines struggles of Haitian migrants self-managing diabetes on Dominican Republic sugar cane fields

University of Missouri findings have implications for impoverished people struggling to self-manage their diabetes worldwide.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-COLUMBIA

 

IMAGE: SUGAR CANE FIELDS view more 

CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- A new study from the University of Missouri Sinclair School of Nursing found that barriers, including poverty, low health literacy, cultural beliefs, lack of infrastructure and political issues, all work together to hinder diabetes self-management for Haitian migrants working in sugar cane fields in the Dominican Republic.  

Rosalia Molina, a nurse who has taken previous medical missionary trips to the Dominican Republic to help impoverished individuals self-manage their diabetes, led the study as part of her doctoral studies at the MU Sinclair School of Nursing. She interviewed health care workers in the Dominican Republic about their challenges providing care to Haitian migrants working in “bateyes,” which are impoverished shanty-town camps on remote sugar cane fields.

“These workers have very little resources, as the bateyes often have no running water, electricity or plumbing, and many of the individuals with diabetes have not been diagnosed or don’t know what to do to effectively self-manage their diabetes,” Molina said. “By first better understanding the compounding barriers that are limiting access to health care for these struggling individuals, we can develop more targeted interventions to help them survive as long as possible.”

Poverty and lack of resources

While rice may be the primary source of food for these remote migrant workers, rice is a high-carb food, which may interfere with optimal blood sugar levels for those with diabetes. Through the interviews, Molina learned the impoverished migrants often see no other choice but to eat the high-carb food to avoid starvation.

Insulin is a common drug given to help individuals with diabetes regulate the amount of glucose in their blood. However, it requires proper refrigeration in order to be most effective, and the remote bateyes unfortunately have no refrigeration options available.

Low health literacy and cultural beliefs

Through the interviews, Molina learned many of the migrants were more likely to trust their Haitian village priests who preach about Vodou, a traditional Afro-Haitian religion, rather than licensed medical professionals who may be unaware about the Haitians’ religious and cultural beliefs.

“For example, a common diabetes symptom is foot wounds, but the individuals may tell us they believe the foot wound was caused by witchcraft, so it speaks to the low health literacy rates as a potential barrier to self-management of diabetes,” Molina said.

Lack of infrastructure

Roads leading into the bateyes are often unpaved, and after heavy rainfall, the roads become so muddy that the remote bateyes become inaccessible for vehicles carrying health care professionals.

Political issues

Molina added that many of the migrant workers come to the Dominican Republic on a seasonal basis without the required work permits. Therefore, being undocumented leads many of these migrant workers with diabetes to avoid seeking medical help at hospitals to avoid the possibility of deportation.

Informing the future

While these challenges compound with each other to hinder access to health care for impoverished individuals, Molina said the findings can help inform possible solutions, such as planting community gardens in these remote areas to offer the workers alternative food sources, as well as working with Haitian village priests to incorporate health care education into their lectures.

“What is interesting is I am also active here in Missouri helping the Hispanic community — many of whom immigrated from Mexico and South America — with their diabetes self-management, and the challenges they face are often very similar to the challenges faced by the Haitians in the Dominican Republic,” said Molina, who immigrated to the United States from Mexico in 1995. “It is important for the public to realize that diabetes is a very expensive and difficult disease for people to manage on their own, especially if they live in poverty, and I am passionate about trying to help.”

“Enhancing diabetes health outcomes among Haitian migrants living in Dominican Bateyes” was recently published in The Science of Diabetes Self-Management and Care. Maithe Enriquez is a coauthor on the study. Funding was provided by The Research Foundation – Kansas City.

Note: Molina earned her doctoral degree from MU in 2022 and now works as an assistant professor at Research College of Nursing in Kansas City, Missouri.

Pronunciation guide: Batey is pronounced BAY-TEE

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JOURNAL

The Science of Diabetes Self-Management and Care

DOI

10.1177/26350106231178838 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Survey

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Enhancing Diabetes Health Outcomes Among Haitian Migrants Living in Dominican Bateyes

 

DNA analysis offers new insights into diverse community at Machu Picchu

Peer-Reviewed Publication

YALE UNIVERSITY

New Haven, Conn. — A genetic analysis suggests that the servants and retainers who lived, worked, and died at Machu Picchu, the renowned 15th century Inca palace in southern Peru, were a diverse community representing many different ethnic groups from across the Inca empire.

The genomic data, described in a new study in Science Advances, is the first investigation of the genomic diversity of individuals buried at Machu Picchu and adjacent places around Cusco, the Inca capital. It builds upon previous archeological and bio-archaeological research, including a 2021 Yale-led study which found that Machu Picchu (AD 1420-1530) is older than was previously believed.

“The DNA analysis not only confirms the historical accounts that retainers were drawn from many different ethnic groups under Inca control, but it also demonstrates a much greater diversity of origins than had been suspected with individuals being brought from the entire empire,” said archaeologist Richard Burger, the Charles J. MacCurdy Professor of Anthropology in Yale’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences and lead researcher for the Machu Picchu project.

“Our analyses show that the population at Machu Picchu was highly heterogenous, with individuals exhibiting genetic ancestries associated with groups from regions throughout the Inca empire including the coast, highlands, and Amazonia,” Burger said.

Researchers from Yale, Universidad Nacional de San Antonio Abad del Cusco (UNSAAC), the University of California-Santa Cruz (UCSC), Tulane University, the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, and other institutions conducted the study, under an agreement to return artifacts and human remains from the Hiram Bingham collection back to Cusco for exhibition, conservation, and study.

Machu Picchu is perhaps the most famous archeological site in the Western Hemisphere. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, more than a million visitors toured the site. Yet until quite recently, little was known about its inhabitants.

Scholars now believe Machu Picchu was a royal estate connected to the lineage of Pachacuti, the emperor credited with establishing the Inca empire. Royals resided at these estates seasonally, but a retinue of servants and retainers, known as yanacona, was left behind to take care of the facilities. Yanacona, who were brought to the estate from conquered lands, were believed to be privileged compared to the general population.

For the new study, researchers generated DNA data for 34 individuals buried at Machu Picchu who were believed to be retainers or attendants assigned to serve the Inca royal family, as well as 34 individuals from Cusco for comparative purposes.

“An unexpected result was the finding that many of the retainers were of Amazonian origin and about a third of them have DNA reflecting significant amounts of Amazonian ancestry,” said lead author Lucy Salazar, a research associate in Yale’s Department of Anthropology. “At least two zones within the Amazonian region are represented.”

Another unexpected result, the researchers said, was that many of the individuals had mixed ancestries, often from regions distant from each other. The researchers said this suggests individuals at Machu Picchu were selecting mates from other genetic groups, producing a diverse population unlike those found in agricultural villages.

“This study does not focus on the life of ‘royals’ or political elites, but on the life of those that were brought to Machu Picchu to serve the nobility that lived there and operated the place,” said co-corresponding author Lars Fehren-Schmitz, a professor at UC-SC and a former Yale post-doctoral researcher. “Thus, it gives us a unique insight into the life of a highly diverse community of individuals and their families who were subject to Inca forced relocation and resettlement policies, a group usually referred to as retainers or yanacona.”

Co-corresponding author Jason Nesbitt, a former Yale Ph.D. student who is now an associate professor at Tulane, noted that few of the individuals buried at Machu Picchu were from the Inca heartland of the Cuzco Valley or the adjacent Lake Titicaca region. He also said the four cemetery areas at Machu Picchu were not organized by genomic origin. Even the individuals buried in a single burial cave represented diverse genomic backgrounds.

“These results suggest that Machu Picchu was a cosmopolitan community in which people of different backgrounds lived, mated, and were interred together,” Burger said.

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JOURNAL

Science Advances

DOI

10.1126/sciadv.adg3377 

ARTICLE TITLE

Insights into the Genetic Histories and Lifeways of Machu Picchu’s Occupants

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

26-Jul-2023

Researchers successfully train a machine learning model in outer space for the first time

Reports and Proceedings

UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

 

IMAGE: CAPTION: ILLUSTRATION OF THE DATA USED FOR TRAINING THE TINY CLOUD CLASSIFICATION MODEL (LEFT), AND THE PREDICTIONS ON NEW SCENES (RIGHT). THE ENTIRE TRAINING PROCESS TOOK ABOUT 1.5 SECONDS, INCLUDING THE TIME FOR ENCODING THE ENTIRE TRAINING DATASET, AND 10 EPOCHS OF TRAINING A CLASSIFICATION MODEL. IMAGE CREDIT: SENTINEL-2 DATA (ESA) PROCESSED BY VÍT RŮŽIČKA view more 

CREDIT: CAPTION: ILLUSTRATION OF THE DATA USED FOR TRAINING THE TINY CLOUD CLASSIFICATION MODEL (LEFT), AND THE PREDICTIONS ON NEW SCENES (RIGHT). THE ENTIRE TRAINING PROCESS TOOK ABOUT 1.5 SECONDS, INCLUDING THE TIME FOR ENCODING THE ENTIRE TRAINING DATASET, AND 10 EPOCHS OF TRAINING A CLASSIFICATION MODEL. IMAGE CREDIT: SENTINEL-2 DATA (ESA) PROCESSED BY VÍT RŮŽIČKA

• 
  
• 
  
• Researchers used an innovative machine learning approach to develop a tiny model capable of running on a satellite’s limited processing power;
• The trained model successfully detected cloud cover in satellite images in around a tenth of a second;
• The model could easily be adapted to enable automated decision making for a range of purposes, from disaster management to deforestation.

For the first time, a project led by the University of Oxford has trained a machine learning model in outer space, on board a satellite. This achievement could revolutionise the capabilities of remote-sensing satellites by enabling real-time monitoring and decision making for a range of applications.

Data collected by remote-sensing satellites is fundamental for many key activities, including aerial mapping, weather prediction, and monitoring deforestation. Currently, most satellites can only passively collect data, since they are not equipped to make decisions or detect changes. Instead, data has to be relayed to Earth to be processed, which typically takes several hours or even days. This limits the ability to identify and respond to rapidly emerging events, such as a natural disaster.

To overcome these restrictions, a group of researchers led by DPhil student Vít Růžička (Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford), took on the challenge of training the first machine learning program in outer space. During 2022, the team successfully pitched their idea to the Dashing through the Stars mission, which had issued an open call for project proposals to be carried out on board the ION SCV004 satellite, launched in January 2022. During the autumn of 2022, the team uplinked the code for the program to the satellite already in orbit.

The researchers trained a simple model to detect changes in cloud cover from aerial images directly onboard the satellite, in contrast to training on the ground. The model was based on an approach called few-shot learning, which enables a model to learn the most important features to look for when it has only a few samples to train from. A key advantage is that the data can be compressed into smaller representations, making the model faster and more efficient.

Vít Růžička explained: ‘The model we developed, called RaVAEn, first compresses the large image files into vectors of 128 numbers. During the training phase, the model learns to keep only the informative values in this vector; the ones that relate to the change it is trying to detect (in this case, whether there is a cloud present or not). This results in extremely fast training due to having only a very small classification model to train.’

Whilst the first part of the model, to compress the newly-seen images, was trained on the ground, the second part (which decided whether the image contained clouds or not) was trained directly on the satellite. 

Normally, developing a machine learning model would require several rounds of training, using the power of a cluster of linked computers. In contrast, the team’s tiny model completed the training phase (using over 1300 images) in around one and a half seconds.

When the team tested the model’s performance on novel data, it automatically detected whether a cloud was present or not in around a tenth of a second. This involved encoding and analysing a scene equivalent to an area of about 4.8x4.8 km2 area (equivalent to almost 450 football pitches).

According to the researchers, the model could easily be adapted to carry out different tasks, and to use other forms of data. Vít Růžička added: ‘Having achieved this demonstration, we now intend to develop more advanced models that can automatically differentiate between changes of interest (for instance flooding, fires, and deforestation) and natural changes (such as natural changes in leaf colour across the seasons). Another aim is to develop models for more complex data, including images from hyperspectral satellites. This could allow, for instance, the detection of methane leaks, and would have key implications for combatting climate change.’

Performing machine learning in outer space could also help overcome the problem of on-board satellite sensors being affected by the harsh environmental conditions, so that they require regular calibration. Vít Růžička said: ‘Our proposed system could be used in constellations of non-homogeneous satellites, where reliable information from one satellite can be applied to train the rest of the constellation. This could be used, for instance, to recalibrate sensors that have degraded over time or experienced rapid changes in the environment.’

Professor Andrew Markham, who supervised Vít’s DPhil research, said ‘Machine learning has a huge potential for improving remote sensing – the ability to push as much intelligence as possible into satellites will make space-based sensing increasingly autonomous. This would help to overcome the issues with the inherent delays between acquisition and action by allowing the satellite to learn from data on board. Vít’s work serves as an interesting proof-of-principle.’

This project was conducted in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA) Φ-lab via the Cognitive Cloud Computing in Space (3CS) campaign and the Trillium Technologies initiative Networked Intelligence in Space (NIO.space) and partners at D-Orbit and Unibap.

Notes for editors:

This work was presented at the International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS) conference on Friday 21 July 2023.

For media enquiries and interview requests, contact Dr Caroline Wood, University of Oxford: caroline.wood@admin.ox.ac.uk 01865 280534 Images are available on request.

About the University of Oxford

Oxford University has been placed number 1 in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings for the seventh year running, and ​number 2 in the QS World Rankings 2022. At the heart of this success are the twin-pillars of our ground-breaking research and innovation and our distinctive educational offer.

Oxford is world-famous for research and teaching excellence and home to some of the most talented people from across the globe. Our work helps the lives of millions, solving real-world problems through a huge network of partnerships and collaborations. The breadth and interdisciplinary nature of our research alongside our personalised approach to teaching sparks imaginative and inventive insights and solutions.

Through its research commercialisation arm, Oxford University Innovation, Oxford is the highest university patent filer in the UK and is ranked first in the UK for university spinouts, having created more than 200 new companies since 1988. Over a third of these companies have been created in the past three years. The university is a catalyst for prosperity in Oxfordshire and the United Kingdom, contributing £15.7 billion to the UK economy in 2018/19, and supports more than 28,000 full time jobs.

About the European Space Agency

The European Space Agency (ESA) provides Europe’s gateway to space.

ESA is an intergovernmental organisation, created in 1975, with the mission to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space delivers benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world

ESA has 22 Member States: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia are Associate Members.

ESA has established formal cooperation with four Member States of the EU. Canada takes part in some ESA programmes under a Cooperation Agreement.                            

By coordinating the financial and intellectual resources of its members, ESA can undertake programmes and activities far beyond the scope of any single European country. It is working in particular with the EU on implementing the Galileo and Copernicus programmes as well as with Eumetsat for the development of meteorological missions.

Learn more about ESA at www.esa.int

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ARTICLE TITLE

Fast model inference and training on-board of Satellites

European Banks Unleash $5 Billion in Buybacks on Rates Boost


Steven Arons
Fri, July 28, 2023 

(Bloomberg) -- Europe’s biggest banks announced new share buybacks worth $5 billion this week as they continue to benefit from higher interest rates.

Spanish lender Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA unveiled a program of as much as €1 billion ($1.1 billion), with Standard Chartered Plc leading in the UK with a $1 billion buyback.

The wave of investor payouts from seven lenders across the region came after surging lending income boosted the profitability of banks. It was another sign of how much the European Central Bank and the Bank of England’s rapid hiking cycle had bolstered the sector.

Net interest income at UniCredit SpA, for example, surged 42% in the first half and jumped 39% at BBVA.

In the UK, at least, the buyback bonanza did little to assuage investor concern that the profitability boost from rates is tapering off. Barclays Plc and NatWest Group Plc both downgraded their guidance for how much more they earn on loans than they pay on deposits, known as net interest margin.

“Customers are seeking high yields for their savings, and we have changed our pricing in response,” Barclays Finance Director Anna Cross said on an earnings call Thursday.

Barclays’ stock dropped as much as 6.7% on the news.

The results “showed us that the market will not let you pay for a NIM downgrade with a better-than-expected buyback,” RBC analyst Benjamin Toms said in a note Friday.

Banks in continental Europe said the prices they’re paying for deposits continue to rise at a slower pace than previously thought.

A mysterious 2,000-year-old Iron Age warrior was female, a new study shows

Patrick Smith
Updated Fri, July 28, 2023

LONDON — Experts puzzling over the buried remains of an ancient warrior found in a 2,000-year-old grave off the coast of Britain have concluded the person was female.

Mystery has surrounded the Iron Age figure interred on Bryher, one of the Scilly Isles southwest of mainland Britain, since it was discovered in 1999. The grave contained a sword and a shield, items traditionally associated with male burials, as well as a mirror, which was typically buried alongside women.

Tooth enamel indicated with a 96% probability that the person was female, according to a study published Thursday in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.

The grave, which is dated from 100 B.C. to 50 B.C., offers a rare glimpse into ancient British life and suggests that women may have taken an active part in military raids before the tribal warrior queen Boudicca led a fierce uprising against the Roman colonization of Britain in A.D. 60.

“Our findings offer an exciting opportunity to re-interpret this important burial. They provide evidence of a leading role for a woman in warfare on Iron Age Scilly," Sarah Stark, a human skeletal biologist at Historic England, which funded the study, said in a statement.

"Although we can never know completely about the symbolism of objects found in graves, the combination of a sword and a mirror suggests this woman had high status within her community and may have played a commanding role in local warfare, organizing or leading raids on rival groups."

An Iron Age sword and mirror found at the Bryher burial site. (Historic England Archive.)

The body was so decomposed that DNA testing was inconclusive — only a dark outline of the skeleton in the soil was visible during the excavation. The new analysis was possible only because of pioneering biomolecular analysis techniques at the University of California.

"Tooth enamel is the hardest and most durable substance in the human body," Glendon Parker, a professor of environmental toxicology at the University of California, Davis, said in a statement.

"It contains a protein with links to either the X or Y chromosome, which means it can be used to determine sex. This is useful because this protein survives well compared to DNA," Parker said.

Other graves could be re-examined using the same process, he added.

Little is known of the Celtic people who lived in Britain before the Roman occupation, but archaeologists believe the main form of warfare was surprise attacks on enemy settlements.

A bronze mirror. (Historic England Archive)

Mirrors had both symbolic and practical value to warriors: They were used to signal to allies and coordinate attacks, as well as to communicate to the supernatural world, Historic England said.

The Bryher grave is the only one in Western Europe to have both a mirror and a shield. The items are on display at the Isles of Scilly Museum on the island of St. Mary's.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com

ECOCIDE
Inside efforts to avert environmental ‘catastrophe’ in the Red Sea


Mohammed Mohammed/Xinhua via Getty Images/FILE

Nadeen Ebrahim, Aimee Look and Zeena Saifi, CNN
Fri, July 28, 2023

Moored five miles off the coast of Yemen for more than 30 years, a decaying supertanker carrying a million barrels of oil is finally being offloaded by a United Nations-led mission, hoping to avert what threatened to be one of the world’s worst ecological disasters in decades.

Experts are now delicately handling the 47-year-old vessel – called the FSO Safer – working to remove the crude without the tanker falling apart, the oil exploding, or a massive spill taking place.

Sitting atop The Endeavor, the salvage UN ship supervising the offloading, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen David Gressly said that the operation is estimated to cost $141 million, and is using the expertise of SMIT, the dredging and offshore contractor that helped dislodge the Ever Given ship that blocked the Suez Canal for almost a week in 2021.

Twenty-three UN member states are funding the mission, with another $16 million coming from the private sector contributors. Donors include Yemen’s largest private company, HSA Group, which pledged $1.2 million in August 2022. The UN also engaged in a unique crowdfunding effort, contributing to the pool which took a year to raise, according to Gressly.

The team is pumping between 4,000 and 5,000 barrels of oil every hour, and has so far transferred more than 120,000 barrels to the replacement vessel carrying the offloaded oil, Gressly said. The full transfer is expected to take 19 days.

The tanker was carrying a million barrels of oil. That would be enough to power up to 83,333 cars or 50,000 US homes for an entire year. The crude on board is worth around $80 million, and who gets that remains a controversial matter.

Here’s what we know so far:

Why the UN has been sounding alarms about this ‘ticking time bomb’

The ship has been abandoned in the Red Sea since 2015 and the UN has regularly warned that the “ticking time bomb” could break apart given its age and condition, or the oil it holds could explode due to the highly flammable compounds in it.

The FSO Safer held four times the amount of oil spilled by the Exxon Valdez off Alaska in 1989 which resulted in a slick that covered 1,300 miles of coastline. A potential spill from this vessel would be enough to make it the fifth largest oil spill from a tanker in history, a UN website said. The cost of cleanup of such an incident is estimated at $20 billion.

The Red Sea is a vital strategic waterway for global trade. At its southern end lies the Bab el-Mandeb strait, where nearly 9% of total seaborne-traded petroleum passes. And at its north is the Suez Canal that separates Africa from Asia. The majority of petroleum and natural gas exports from the Persian Gulf that transit the Suez Canal pass through the Bab el-Mandeb, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

The sea is also a popular diving hotspot that boasts an impressive underwater eco-system. In places its banks are dotted with tourist resorts, and its eastern shore is the site of ambitious Saudi development projects worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

A complex and risky operation

The first step of the mission was to stabilize and secure the vessel to avoid it collapsing, Gressly said. That has already been achieved in the past few weeks.

“There are a number of things that had to be done to secure the oil from exploding,” Gressly told CNN, including pumping out gases in each of the 13 compartments holding the oil. Systems for pumping were rebuilt, and some lighting was repaired.

Booms, which are temporary floating barriers used to contain marine spills, were dispersed around the vessel to capture any potential leaks.

The second step is to transfer the oil onto the replacement vessel, which is now underway.

After The Safer is emptied, it must then be cleaned to ensure no oil residue is left, Gressly said. The team will then attach a giant buoy to the replacement vessel until a decision about what to do with the oil has been made.

“The transfer of the oil to (the replacement vessel) will prevent the worst-case scenario of a catastrophic spill in the Red Sea, but it is not the end of the operation,” Gressly said.

While the hardest part of the operation would then be over, a spill could still occur. And even after the transfer, the tanker will “continue to pose an environmental threat resulting from the sticky oil residue inside the tank, especially since the tanker remains vulnerable to collapse,” the UN said, stressing that to finish the job, an extra $22 million is urgently needed.

What if a spill does occur?

A spill would shut the Yemeni ports that its impoverished people rely on for food aid and fuel, impacting 17 million people during an ongoing humanitarian crisis caused by the country’s civil war and a Saudi-led military assault on the country. Oil could bleed all the way to the African coast, damaging fish stocks for 25 years and affect up to 200,000 jobs, according to the UN.

A potential spill would cause “catastrophic” public health ramifications in Yemen and surrounding countries, according to a study by researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine. Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Eritrea would bear the brunt.

Air pollution from a spill of this magnitude would increase the risk of hospitalization for cardiovascular or respiratory disease for those very directly exposed by 530%, according to the study, which said it could cause an array of other health problems, from psychiatric to neurological issues.

“Given the scarcity of water and food in this region, it could be one of the most disastrous oil spills ever known in terms of impacts on human life,” David Rehkopf, a professor at Stanford University and senior author of the study, told CNN.

Up to 10 million people would struggle to obtain clean water, and 8 million would have their access to food supplies threatened. The Red Sea fisheries in Yemen could be “almost completely wiped out,” Rehkopf added.

The tanker has been an issue for many people in Yemen over the past few years, Gressly said. Sentiment on social media surrounding the removal of oil is very positive, as many in Yemen feel like the tanker is a “threat that’s been over their heads,” he said.
Who gets the oil?

The tanker issue remains a point of dispute between the Houthi rebels that control the north of Yemen and the internationally recognized government, the two main warring sides in the country’s civil conflict.

While the war, which saw hundreds of thousands of people killed or injured, and Yemen left in ruins, has eased of late, it is far from resolved.

Ahmed Nagi, a senior analyst for Yemen at the International Crisis Group think tank in Brussels, sees the Safer tanker issue as “an embodiment of the conflict in Yemen as a whole.”

“The government sees the Houthi militias as an illegitimate group controlling the tanker, and the Houthis do not recognize (the government),” Nagi told CNN.

The vessel was abandoned after the outbreak of the Yemeni civil war in 2015. The majority of the oil is owned by Yemeni state firm SEPOC, experts say, and there are some reports that it may be sold.

“From a technical point of view, the owner of the tanker and the oil inside it is SEPOC,” Nagi said, adding that other energy companies working in Yemen may also share ownership of the oil.

The main issue, Nagi added, is that the Safer’s headquarters are in the government-controlled Marib city, while the tanker is in an area controlled by the Houthis. The Safer is moored off the coast of the western Hodeidah province.

Discussions to determine the ownership of the oil are underway, Gressly said. The rights to the oil are unclear and there are legal issues that need to be addressed.

The UN coordinator hopes that the days needed to offload the oil will buy some time for “political and legal discussions that need to take place before the oil can be sold.”

While the UN may manage to resolve half of the issue, Nagi said, there still needs to be an understanding of the oil’s status.

“It still poses a danger if we keep it near a conflict zone,” he said.

CNN’s Eoin McSweeney and Mostafa Salem contributed to this report.

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