Novel machine-learning method produces detailed population trend maps for 550 bird species

Peer-Reviewed Publication

CORNELL UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: IN THIS EXAMPLE, THE EBIRD TRENDS MAP SHOWS WOOD THRUSH POPULATIONS INCREASING (BLUE) IN SOME AREAS BUT DECREASING (RED) IN OTHERS, ALLOWING FOR TARGETED CONSERVATION PLANNING. view more 

CREDIT: EBIRD/CORNELL LAB OF ORNITHOLOGY

Scientists at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology have developed a novel way to model whether the populations of more than 500 bird species are increasing or decreasing. The method solves a nagging statistical problem by accounting for year-to-year changes in the behavior of people collecting the data. The result is detailed trend maps for each species down to an eight-mile radius--a major boost for local conservation efforts. Scientists used an approach called Double Machine Learning. Details are published in the journal Methods in Ecology and Evolution.

“Changing human behavior presents a problem for statistical analysis of data collected by volunteers,” explained lead author Daniel Fink at the Cornell Lab. “For example, is a particular species really declining in a region—or are there simply fewer people making observations in the bird’s preferred habitat compared to past years?”

Birding behavior may change when people adopt new tools, get better at identifying birds, or go birding in new areas. Changes in human behavior become what is called a “confounding” factor. A confounding factor has an impact on the primary question being studied and can distort reality. In this case, changes in the recorded abundances of birds may be real, or they may be artifacts that appear because of changes in the observation process over time.

Double Machine Learning is applied to bird observation data collected by the Cornell Lab’s global eBird program and then visualized with detailed maps. With Double Machine Learning, two types of patterns are “learned” and then identified in the data. One pattern is the variation in the reported counts of birds. The second pattern reflects variation in birders’ behavior. The effect of the behavior pattern is then removed, leaving only variation in the actual recorded abundances of birds.

“Now, we have a way to analyze these data that produce robust estimates of population change, even for species and/or regions without rigorous monitoring programs,” said Fink. “The ability to estimate trends while accounting for confounding factors inherent in citizen science data has the potential to fill important information gaps.”

Reference

Daniel Fink, Alison Johnston, Matthew Strimas-Mackey, Tom Auer, Wesley Hochachka, Shawn Ligocki, Lauren Oldham Jaromczyk, Orin Robinson, Chris Wood, Steve Kelling, Amanda Rodewald. A Double Machine Learning Trend Model for Citizen Science Data. Methods in Ecology and Evolution. July 2023. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.14186

In this example, the eBird Trends map shows Wood Thrush populations increasing (blue) in some areas but decreasing (red) in others, allowing for targeted conservation planning.

CREDIT

eBird/Cornell Lab of Ornithology

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JOURNAL

Methods in Ecology and Evolution

DOI

10.1111/2041-210X.14186 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

A Double machine learning trend model for citizen science data

 

How psychedelic drugs affect a rat’s brain

Peer-Reviewed Publication

LUND UNIVERSITY

Researchers at Lund University have developed a technique for simultaneously measuring electrical signals from 128 areas of the brain in awake rats. They have then used the information to measure what happens to the neurons when the rats are given psychedelic drugs. The results show an unexpected and simultaneous synchronisation among neurons in several regions of the brain.

The idea that electrical oscillations in the brain could be used to teach us more about our experiences was conceived several years ago. Pär Halje and the research team was studying rats with Parkinson’s disease that had problems with involuntary movements. The researchers discovered a tone – an oscillation or wave in the electrical fields – of 80 hertz in the brains of the rats with Parkinson’s disease. It turned out that the wave was closely connected to the involuntary movements. 

“A Polish researcher had observed similar waves after giving rats the anaesthetic ketamine. The ketamine was given at a low dose so that the rats were conscious, and the equivalent dose in a human causes psychedelic experiences. The waves they saw were in more cognitive regions of the brain than in the rats with Parkinson’s, and the frequency was higher, but that still made us consider whether there were links between the two phenomena. Perhaps excessive brain waves in the motor regions of the brain cause motor symptoms, while excessive waves in cognitive regions give cognitive symptoms,” says Pär Halje, researcher in neurophysiology at Lund University.

The research team that Pär Halje belongs to has developed a method that uses electrodes to simultaneously measure oscillations from 128 separate areas of the brain in awake rats. The electrical waves are caused by the cumulative activity in thousands of neurons, but the researchers also succeeded in isolating signals from individual neurons.

“For several of these areas, it is the first time anyone has successfully shown how individual neurons are affected by LSD in awake animals. When we gave the rats the psychedelic substances LSD and ketamine, the waves were clearly registered.”

Collective wave patterns 

Despite ketamine and LSD affecting different receptors in the brain – they have completely different ways into the nervous system – they resulted in the same wave patterns even if the signals from individual cells differed. When the rats were given LSD, researchers saw that their neurons were inhibited – they signalled less – in all parts of the brain. Ketamine seemed to have a similar effect on the large neurons – pyramidal cells – which saw their expression inhibited, while interneurons, which are smaller neurons that are only collected locally in tissue, increased their signalling. 

Pär Halje interprets the results seen in the study, which is published in Communication Biology, to mean that the wave phenomenon is connected to the psychedelic experience. 

“Activity in the individual neurons caused by ketamine and LSD looks quite different, and as such cannot be directly linked to the psychedelic experience. Instead, it seems to be this distinctive wave phenomenon – how the neurons behave collectively – that is most strongly linked to the psychedelic experience.”

Research model for psychoses

Even if what is happening in individual cells is interesting, Pär Halje argues that the whole is bigger and more exciting than the individual parts.

“The oscillations behave in a strange way. One might think that a strong wave starts somewhere, which then spreads to other parts of the brain. But instead, we see that the neurons’ activity synchronises itself in a special way – the waves in the brain go up and down essentially simultaneously in all parts of the brain where we are able to take measurements. This suggests that there are other ways in which the waves are communicated than through chemical synapses, which are relatively slow.” 

Pär Halje emphasises that it is difficult to know whether the waves cause hallucinations or are merely an indication of them. But, he argues, it opens up the possibility that this could be used as a research model for psychoses, where no good models exist today.

“Given how drastically a psychosis manifests itself, there ought to be a common pattern that we can measure. So far, we have not had that, but we now see a very specific oscillation pattern in rats that we are able to measure.”

Can the waves reveal more about consciousness?

There is also a dream – that the model will help us in the hunt for the mechanisms behind consciousness and that the measurements may be a way to study how consciousness is shaped. 

“In light of the development of AI, it is becoming increasingly important to clarify what we mean by intelligence and what we mean by consciousness. Can self-awareness occur spontaneously, or is it something that needs to be built in? We do not know this today, because we do not know what the required ingredients for consciousness in our brains are. This is where it is exciting, the synchronised pattern we see, and whether this can help us to track down the neural foundations of consciousness,” says Pär Halje.

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JOURNAL

Communications Biology

DOI

10.1038/s42003-023-05093-6 

ARTICLE TITLE

5-HT2AR and NMDAR psychedelics induce similar hyper-synchronous states in the rat cognitive-limbic cortex-basal ganglia system

 

Collaborative salt marsh research championed by UNF and global scientists

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF NORTH FLORIDA

 

IMAGE: ELIZABETH TERWILLIGER, UNF JUNIOR BIOLOGY STUDENT, JULIET FLORES, VISITING STUDENT FROM CAL POLY HUMBOLDT UNIVERSITY IN CALIFORNIA AS PART OF UNF’S COASTAL BIOLOGY RESEARCH EXPERIENCES FOR UNDERGRADS [REU] PROGRAM, AND DR. SCOTT JONES, UNF BIOLOGY ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, CONDUCTING RESEARCH IN THE SALT MARSHES AT UNF’S WEBB COASTAL RESEARCH STATION. view more 

CREDIT: UNF BIOLOGY ALUMNA EMILY HILL, CLASS OF SUMMER ’23

Dr. Scott F. Jones, University of North Florida assistant professor of biology, co-led recently published research from an international team of scientists that offers a united, conceptual framework for approaching salt marsh studies. The project aims to encourage cross-disciplinary and global collaborations, ultimately dramatically improving understanding of salt marsh ecosystem functions by appropriately framing the science.

Salt marshes link land and sea throughout the world and are essential for protecting coastal communities from the devastating impacts of storm surge, reducing nitrogen and storing carbon to help slow the effects of climate change and serving as critical habitat for many varieties of fish and plant life.

These transitional ecosystems are varied and unique but are often studied as if all salt marshes were identical. This project united global scientists to draft a conceptual framework that allows comparison of salt marshes in a more rigorous and equitable way.

Jones’ fellow co-leads on the project, biologists Drs. Erik S. Yando, Old Dominion University, and W. Ryan James, Florida International University, conceptualized the paper over the course of several years. The team synthesized a wealth of experience in collaboration with international co-authors from Argentina, United Kingdom, South Africa, China, Saudi Arabia, Australia and Russia.

Their work reviews ecosystem-relevant drivers from global to local spatial scales, integrates these multi-scale settings into a framework and provides guidance on applying the framework using specific variables on 11 global examples of salt marshes. The conceptual framework allows for appropriate comparison of study sites by accounting for the uniqueness of each individual salt marsh.

Read “An integrative salt marsh conceptual framework for global comparisons” in Limnology & Oceanography Letters.

 

About University of North Florida

The University of North Florida is a nationally ranked university located on a beautiful 1,381-acre campus in Jacksonville surrounded by nature. Serving nearly 17,000 students, UNF features six colleges of distinction with innovative programs in high-demand fields. UNF students receive individualized attention from faculty and gain valuable real-world experience engaging with community partners. A top public university, UNF prepares students to make a difference in Florida and around the globe. Learn more at www.unf.edu.

###

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JOURNAL

Limnology and Oceanography Letters

DOI

10.1002/lol2.10346 

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

An integrative salt marsh conceptual framework for global comparisons

A new weapon in the war on robocall scams

Peer-Reviewed Publication

NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY

The latest weapon in the war on robocalls is an automated system that analyzes the content of these unsolicited bulk calls to shed light on both the scope of the problem and the type of scams being perpetuated by robocalls. The tool, called SnorCall, is designed to help regulators, phone carriers and other stakeholders better understand and monitor robocall trends – and take action against related criminal activity.

“Although telephone service providers, regulators and researchers have access to call metadata – such as the number being called and the length of the call – they do not have tools to investigate what is being said on robocalls at the vast scale required,” says Brad Reaves, corresponding author of a paper on the work and an assistant professor of computer science at North Carolina State University.

“For one thing, providers don’t want to listen in on calls – it raises significant privacy concerns. But robocalls are a huge problem, and are often used to conduct criminal fraud. To better understand the scope of this problem, and gain insights into these scams, we need to know what is being said on these robocalls.

“We’ve developed a tool that allows us to the characterize the content of robocalls,” Reaves says. “And we’ve done it without violating privacy concerns; in collaboration with a telecommunications company called Bandwidth, we operate more than 60,000 phone numbers that are used solely by us to monitor unsolicited robocalls. We did not use any phone numbers of actual customers.”

The new tool, SnorCall, essentially records all robocalls received on the monitored phone lines. It bundles together robocalls that use the same audio, reducing the number of robocalls whose content needs to be analyzed by around an order of magnitude. These recorded robocalls are then transcribed and analyzed by a machine learning framework called Snorkel that can be used to characterize each call.

“SnorCall essentially uses labels to identify what each robocall is about,” Reaves says. “Does it mention a specific company or government program? Does it request specific personal information? If so, what kind? Does it request money? If so, how much? This is all fed into a database that we can use to identify trends or behaviors.”

As a proof of concept, the researchers used SnorCall to assess 232,723 robocalls collected over 23 months on the more than 60,000 phone lines dedicated to the study.

“Those 232,723 robocalls were broken down into 26,791 ‘campaigns,’ or unique audio files,” Reaves says. “And we were able to extract a tremendous amount of information from those campaigns.”

Perhaps most importantly, the researchers were able to extract the phone numbers used in these scams. Robocallers often “spoof” the number they are calling from, making it impossible to tell where the call actually originated. However, scammers increasingly encourage the people receiving robocalls to call a specific phone number. This may be to resolve a (fictional) tech support issue, resolve a (fictional) tax problem, resolve a (fictional) issue with Social Security, and so on.

“Scammers can fake where a robocall is coming from, but they can’t fake the number they want their victims to call,” Reaves says. “And about 45% of the robocalls we analyzed did include this ‘call-back number’ strategy. By extracting those call-back numbers, SnorCall gives regulators or law enforcement something to work with. They can determine which phone service providers issued those numbers and then identify who opened those accounts.”

The proof of concept analysis also shed light on how specific robocall campaigns operate over time.

“For example, we saw very clear trends in the number of robocalls about Social Security scams being made during the pandemic,” Reaves says. “As COVID shut down offices, we saw the number of Social Security scam robocalls dwindle to nearly zero. And then saw the number of these scam calls ramp back up as COVID restrictions were lifted. This tells us that Social Security scam robocall operations are based in offices – they weren’t able to adjust to conditions where the people behind those robocalls would have to work from home. If nothing else, it helps us understand the level of scale and organization behind these robocall Social Security scams.”

One of the other advantages of incorporating the Snorkel framework into SnorCall is that Snorkel makes it relatively easy to modify SnorCall to meet stakeholder-specific needs.

“For example, if investigators want to focus on a new scam topic, Snorkel is very good at identifying key terms or phrases associated with topics,” Reaves says. “This could be a valuable feature for investigators who are focused on specific types of criminal fraud.”

“Our findings demonstrate how illegal robocalls use major societal events like student loan forgiveness to develop new types of scams,” says Sathvik Prasad, a Ph.D. student at NC State and first author of the paper. “SnorCall can aid stakeholders to monitor well-known robocall categories and also help them uncover new types of robocalls.”

Stakeholders who are interested in this work can learn more about the Reaves lab’s overarching efforts at https://robocall.science.

“There’s no way we could have done this work without the collaboration of industry partners, including Bandwidth,” Reaves says. “And we are definitely interested in working with other companies in the telecom and tech sectors to help us move forward with efforts to address robocalls in a meaningful way.”

The paper, “Diving into Robocall Content with SnorCall,” will be presented Aug. 9 at the USENIX Security Symposium, which is being held in Anaheim, Calif. Lead author of the paper is Sathvik Prasad, a Ph.D. student at NC State. The paper was co-authored by Trevor Dunlap and Alexander Ross, both Ph.D. students at NC State.

The work was done with support from the National Science Foundation, under grants 1849994 and 2142930; the 2020 Facebook Internet Defense Prize; and the Google Cloud Research Credits program, under award GCP19980904.

---

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Diving into Robocall Content with SnorCall

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

9-Aug-2023

COI STATEMENT

none

 

Research training network with Sri Lankan universities tackles climate change

Meeting Announcement

UNIVERSITY OF HUDDERSFIELD

 

IMAGE: PICTURED ARE THE DELEGATES FROM SRI LANKA WHO TOOK PART IN THE STAFF EXCHANGE PROGRAMME ALONGSIDE THE TEAM FROM THE UNIVERSITY'S GLOBAL DISASTER RESILIENCE CENTRE. view more 

CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF HUDDERSFIELD'S GLOBAL DISASTER RESILIENCE CENTRE

Climate change is expected to continue to drive disaster risk, with significant increases in the frequency, intensity, spatial extent and duration of extreme events. One of the countries most impacted has been Sri Lanka which has suffered heavily due to extreme weather events. In the Climate Risk Index for 2017 it was ranked number two in the world for being the most affected country in the world.

Now, a staff exchange programme has taken place between the University of Huddersfield and eight prestigious Sri Lankan universities for the ‘Research Training Network on Tackling Climate Change as an Underlying Disaster Risk Driver’ to work towards tackling climate change as an underlying disaster risk driver.  The event was the first of its kind to feature the collaboration of a such a varied and multidisciplinary team between the two countries.

The network is part of an Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility (ICM) project titled ‘Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction’ (CCA-DRR) and featured 24 academics including engineers, architects, sociologists, management experts, climate scientists, Geographers, Disaster Risk Reduction experts, agriculture and food scientists from the Sri Lankan universities Moratuwa, Colombo, Peradeniya, Ruhuna, South Eastern, Sri Jayewardenepura, Kelaniya, and Sabaragamuwa.

Led by the Global Disaster Resilience Centre's Dr Chamindi Malalgoda with GDRC Co-Directors Professor Dilanthi Amaratunga and Professor Richard Haigh, the training network was designed to develop research capacities amongst senior academic staff members from UK and Sri Lanka.

The aim was to advance the dialogue between the CCA and DRR research communities by investigating differences, overlaps and potential synergies between the two realms. This was achieved through a structured programme drawing together international expertise and diverse disciplinary perspectives with seminars, workshops, an international symposium, panel discussions, guest lectures, the planning of research papers, the development of a research road map, and field trips.

Prior to the launch of the training network an international symposium also took place featuring 37 research presentations structured across five key themes and two panel discussions. The key themes included climate change action for resilience in agricultural and food systems, climate change adaptation for coastal ecosystems and flood management, business continuity, policy and governance, climate change adaptation in the built environment and climate change risk management.

The feedback received from the delegates included comments such as:

“Thank you for everything you have done for us.  You are the live wire for us not only for building our capacities towards CCA-DRR but also for networking with each other internationally as well within Sri Lanka.  Your guidance and support are always admirable and appreciated.”

Champa Navarathne

“This CCA-DDR programme has developed our capacity to work out in the field of climate change and disaster risk reduction which is a different and new field to exploit. Thank you to the team at the School of Arts and Humanities.  I’m indebted to express my sincere thanks and gratitude to the GDRC for their hard work and commitment to make this programme a great success.”

Abduk Majeed

The GDRC’s Professor Amaratunga explained that a significant output from the CCA-DRR programme has been the development of a research roadmap to achieve climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction in Sri Lanka focusing on built-environment, human health, transportation, energy, tourism, environment and eco-systems, water resources, food security, agriculture, and livestock sectors through an inter-disciplinary collaborative approach.

Several bi lateral meetings have also taken place between senior Sri-Lankan academics and the University’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Tim Thornton and Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research and Enterprise) Professor Andrew Ball where further collaborative actions between the two countries were discussed.

“Research capacity development on CCA-DRR is one of the most critical challenges facing Higher Education Institutes in Sri Lanka,” said Dr Malalgoda.

“The staff exchange programme has addressed some of the most pressing issues for researchers and universities in the context of building and sustaining research capacity.

“Eventually, it is expected that these gaps in the knowledge will be filled, providing better and timely recovery for disaster-affected communities. To help build resilience to climate and disaster risks, countries must be supported to identify and leverage relevant technical, financial, and organisational capacities in all sectors of society,” she added.

• The CCA-DRR is a European Commission funded Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility (ICM) project which supports student and staff mobility to and from countries outside Europe.

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METHOD OF RESEARCH

Content analysis

 

Texting while walking makes college students more likely to fall

Peer-Reviewed Publication

CELL PRESS

 

VIDEO: DEMONSTRATION OF EXPERIMENTAL METHODS view more 

CREDIT: HELIYON BRODIE ET AL.

When it comes to college-aged adults who are glued to their smartphones, experts argue over whether texting while walking increases the risk of an accident. Some studies have shown that texting pedestrians are more likely to walk into oncoming traffic, while other studies suggest that young adults have mastered the art of multitasking and are able to text accurately while navigating obstacles. However, few studies have measured how texters respond to unpredictable hazard conditions. By simulating an environment with random slipping threats, researchers report in the journal Heliyon on August 8th that texting increases the risk of falling in response to walkway hazards.

“On any day it seems as many as 80% of people, both younger and older, may be head down and texting. I wondered: is this safe?” says senior author Matthew A. Brodie (@MatthewABrodie), a neuroscientist and engineer at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering. “This has made me want to investigate the dangers of texting while walking. I wanted to know if these dangers are real or imagined and to measure the risk in a repeatable way.”

The team recruited 50 UNSW undergraduate students from his “Mechanics of the Human Body” course for this experiment. Brodie and co-author Yoshiro Okubo invented a tiled hazard walkway at Neuroscience Research Australia’s gait laboratory, which halfway through had a tile that could be adjusted to slide out of place, so anyone who stepped on it would slip as if on a banana peel. Students wore a safety harness—preventing any slip from becoming a fall—and sensors that collected their motion data. They then were asked to go along the walkway either without texting or while typing “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.”

To better simulate the uncertainty of real life, students were only told that they may or may not slip. This allowed the researchers to study how texting pedestrians might anticipate and try to prevent a potential slip, such as by leaning forward.

“What surprised me is how differently people responded to the threat of slipping,” says Brodie. “Some slowed down and took a more cautious approach. Others sped up in anticipation of slipping. Such different approaches reinforce how no two people are the same, and to better prevent accidents from texting while walking, multiple strategies may be needed.”

Despite motion data showing that texting participants tried to be more cautious in response to a threat, this did not counteract their risk of falling. When participants went from leaning forwards (such as over a phone) to slipping backwards, their motion sensors showed an increase in the range of their “trunk angle.” Researchers used this number to measure whether the texting condition was making students more likely to fall, and they found that the average trunk angle range during a fall significantly increased if a student was texting.

Walking also caused the texters’ accuracy to decrease. The highest texting accuracy occurred when participants were seated, but accuracy decreased even as walking participants were cautioned about a potential slip that did not occur. The lowest accuracy, however, occurred in conditions where participants did slip.

The researchers note that young people may be more likely to take risks even if they are aware that texting and walking could increase their likelihood of falling. For that reason, the authors suggest that educational initiatives such as signs might be less effective in reaching this population. In addition to education, the researchers also suggest that phones could implement locking technology similar to what is used when users are driving. The technology could detect walking activity and activate a screen lock to prevent texting during that time. In future research, the team plans on looking into the effectiveness of this intervention.

###

This work was supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship. The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Heliyon, Brodie et al. “Impact of mobile phone use on accidental falls risk in young adult pedestrians” https://cell.com/heliyon/fulltext/S2405-8440(23)05574-3 

Heliyon (@HeliyonJournal), part of the Cell Press family, is an open access journal publishing scientifically accurate and valuable research across life, physical, social, and medical sciences journal. Visit https://www.cell.com/heliyon. To receive Cell Press media alerts, contact press@cell.com.

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JOURNAL

Heliyon

DOI

10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e18366 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Impact of mobile phone use on accidental falls risk in young adult pedestrians

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

8-Aug-2023

 

Study finds women who consumed sugar sweetened beverage daily had higher risk of developing liver cancer and chronic liver disease

Approximately 65% of adults in the United States consume sugar sweetened beverages daily

Peer-Reviewed Publication

MASS GENERAL BRIGHAM

Approximately 65% of adults in the United States consume sugar sweetened beverages daily. Chronic liver disease is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide and can result in liver cancer and liver disease-related mortality. Researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, led one of the first studies to look at the association between intake of sugar-sweetened beverages, artificially sweetened beverages, and incidence of liver cancer and chronic liver disease mortality. Results are published in JAMA.

“To our knowledge, this is the first study to report an association between sugar sweetened beverage intake and chronic liver disease mortality,” said first author Longgang Zhao, PhD, of the Brigham’s Channing Division of Network Medicine. Zhao is a postdoctoral researcher who works with senior author Xuehong Zhang, MBBS, ScD, in the Channing Division. “Our findings, if confirmed, may pave the way to a public health strategy to reduce risk of liver disease based on data from a large and geographically diverse cohort.”

This observational study included nearly 100,000 postmenopausal women from the large, prospective Women’s Health Initiative study. Participants reported their usual soft drink, fruit drink (not including fruit juice) consumption, and then reported artificially sweetened beverage consumption after three years. Participants were followed for a median of more than 20 years. Researchers looked at self-reported liver cancer incidence and death due to chronic liver disease such as fibrosis, cirrhosis, or chronic hepatitis, which were further verified by medical records or the National Death Index.  

A total of 98,786 postmenopausal women were included in the final analyses. The 6.8 percent of women who consumed one or more sugar-sweetened beverages daily had an 85 percent higher risk of liver cancer and 68 percent higher risk of chronic liver disease mortality compared to those who had fewer than three sugar sweetened beverages per month.

The authors note that the study was observational, and causality cannot be inferred, and relied on self-reported responses about intake, sugar content and outcomes. More studies are needed to validate this risk association and determine why the sugary drinks appeared to increase risk of liver cancer and disease. Furthermore, more research is needed to elucidate the potential mechanisms by integrating genetics, preclinical and experimental studies, and -omics data.

Disclosures: Naughton reported grants from the National Institute of Aging (NIA) to The Ohio State University (to support the analysis and use of the Women’s Health Initiative [WHI] data for multiple publications during the conduct of the study; and grants from Merck Foundation (to support a research project not related to this article) outside the submitted work. Tobias reported grants from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and grants from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIH/NIDDK) during the conduct of the study. VoPham reported personal fees from Georgetown University (speaker honorarium); and grants from NIH/NIDDK (K01 DK125612), NIH/NCI (P20 CA252732; P30 CA015704), and NIH/NHLBI (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; 75N92019R0030) outside the submitted work. Dr Manson reported grants from NIH during the conduct of the study and grants from NIH and Mars Edge outside the submitted work. No other disclosures were reported

Funding: The Women’s Health Initiative program is funded by the US Department of Health and Human Services through contracts HHSN268201600018C, HHSN268201600001C, HHSN268201600002C, HHSN268201600003C and HHSN268201600004C. Zhang is supported by NIH/NCI grants (R21 CA238651, R21 CA252962, R37 CA262299, U01 CA259208, and U01 CA272452), an American Cancer Society Research Scholar Grant (RSG-17-190-01-NEC), and an American Cancer Society Interdisciplinary Team Award (PASD-22-1003396-01-PASD).

Paper cited: Zhao L et al. “Sugar-Sweetened and Artificially Sweetened Beverages and Risk of Liver Cancer and Chronic Liver Disease Mortality.” JAMA, 2023. DOI: 10.1001/jama.2023.12618

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JOURNAL

JAMA Network Open

DOI

10.1001/jama.2023.12618 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Study Finds Women Who Consumed Sugar Sweetened Beverage Daily Had Higher Risk of Developing Liver Cancer and Chronic Liver Disease

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

8-Aug-2023

COI STATEMENT

Disclosures: Naughton reported grants from the National Institute of Aging (NIA) to The Ohio State University (to support the analysis and use of the Women’s Health Initiative [WHI] data for multiple publications during the conduct of the study; and grants from Merck Foundation (to support a research project not related to this article) outside the submitted work. Tobias reported grants from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and grants from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIH/NIDDK) during the conduct of the study. VoPham reported personal fees from Georgetown University (speaker honorarium); and grants from NIH/NIDDK (K01 DK125612), NIH/NCI (P20 CA252732; P30 CA015704), and NIH/NHLBI (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; 75N92019R0030) outside the submitted work. Dr Manson reported grants from NIH during the conduct of the study and grants from NIH and Mars Edge outside the submitted work. No other disclosures were reported

Sugar-sweetened and artificially sweetened beverages and risk of liver cancer, chronic liver disease mortality

JAMA

Peer-Reviewed Publication

JAMA NETWORK

About The Study: Among 98,000 postmenopausal women, compared with consuming three or fewer servings of sugar-sweetened beverages per month, those who consumed one or more sugar-sweetened beverages per day had a higher incidence of liver cancer and death from chronic liver disease. Future studies should confirm these findings and identify the biological pathways of these associations.

Authors: Xuehong Zhang, M.B.B.S., Sc.D., of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, is the corresponding author.

To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/

(doi:10.1001/jama.2023.12618)

Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support.

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/10.1001/jama.2023.12618?guestAccessKey=c30b7d09-5ddc-4f84-ae85-36a5da573332&utm_source=For_The_Media&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_content=tfl&utm_term=080823

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JOURNAL

JAMA

 

Management of acetaminophen poisoning in the US and Canada

JAMA Network Open

Peer-Reviewed Publication

JAMA NETWORK

About The Study: This study provides a consensus statement on consistent evidence-based recommendations for medical, pharmacy, and nursing education and practice to optimize care of patients with acetaminophen poisoning.

Authors: Richard C. Dart, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver, is the corresponding author.

To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/

(doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.27739)

Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support.

 http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.27739?utm_source=For_The_Media&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_term=080823

About JAMA Network Open: JAMA Network Open is an online-only open access general medical journal from the JAMA Network. On weekdays, the journal publishes peer-reviewed clinical research and commentary in more than 40 medical and health subject areas. Every article is free online from the day of publication.

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JOURNAL

JAMA Network Open